tibxavy  of  Che  Cheoiocjical  gminavy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


From  the  library  of 
Dr.  A. A,  Hodge 

BX  9225  .C4  W39 
Wayland,  Francis,  1796-1865 
A  memoir  of  the  Christian 
labors 


MEMOIR 


OF     THE 


CHRISTIAN    LABORS, 

pastoral  sift  ^pantljropix, 


O  F 


THOMAS  CHALMERS,  D.D.LL.D, 


BY 


FRANCISVWAYLAND 


BOSTON: 
GOULD     AND      LINCOLN, 

59     WASHINGTON    "STREET. 

NEW   YORK:    SHELDON    AND    COMPANY. 
CINCINNATI  :    GEORGE   S.  BLANCIIAKD. 

18  64. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1804,  bjf 

F  R  A  TX  C  I S    W  A  Y  L  AND, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Rhode  Island. 


PREFACE 


The  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,  by  his  Son-in-law,  Dr.  Hanna,"  have  been 
for  several  years  in  the  possession  of  the  Christian 
public.  The  work  is  exceedingly  well  written,  and  pre- 
sents as  complete  a  view  of  the  character  and  labors 
of  its  illustrious  subject  as  could  be  desired.  In  order, 
however,  to  accomplish  his  object,  Dr.  Hanna  was 
obliged  to  present  in  detail  a  large  amount  of  matter, 
relating  particularly  to  Scotland,  and  of  no  special  in- 
terest in  this  country;  so  that  the  work  is  extended 
to  four  volumes.  This  fact  has,  we  fear,  in  some 
measure  limited  the  number  of  its  readers. 

Besides  this,  I  apprehend  that  Dr.  Chalmers  gener- 
ally appears  before  us  as  the  author  of  the  Astronomi- 
cal Sermons,  of  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  of  one 
of  the  Bridgwater  Treatises,  and  of  many  works  on  Po- 
litical Economy,  and  probably  as  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated pulpit  orators  of  his  age.    That  this  view  is  a  true 


VI  PREFACE. 

one  there  is  no  doubt,  but  it  is  not  all  the  truth.  There 
is  another  phase  of  his  character,  which  is  in  danger  of 
fading  out  of  view.  He  was  a  devout  and  self-sacrificing 
Christian,  a  most  laborious  and  successful  pastor,  an 
humble  and  indefatigable  visitor  among  the  poor  and 
degraded,  and  his  whole  life  was  deliberately  conse- 
crated to  the  work  of  sending  the  gospel,  with  its  life- 
giving  power,  to  every  family  of  the  neglected  masses  of 
his  countrymen.  These  traits  of  his  character  are,  we 
think,  not  sufficiently  known,  or,  if  known,  they  do  not 
press  themselves  upon  the  public  with  the  power  of  a 
most  remarkable  example. 

Having  recently  had  occasion  to  recur  to  the  Life  of 
Dr.  Chalmers,  a  passage  or  two  so  interested  me  that  I 
read  the  whole  work  for  the  second  time.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  if  this  particular  aspect  of  his  character  could 
be  presented  by  itself,  with  the  single  object  of  exhibit- 
ing the  parochial  and  philanthropic  labors  of  this  ex- 
cellent man,  his  modes  of  doing  good,  and  the  general 
principles  by  which  all  his  efforts  were  directed,  some- 
thing might  be  done  for  the  cause  of  religion  and  be- 
nevolence. I  immediately  undertook  the  work.  At  first 
I  intended  no  more  than  to  prepare  a  pamphlet,  but  the 
subject  grew  under  my  hands,  and  the  result  has  been 
the  following  little  volume. 


PREFA  CE.  VII 

In  the  preparation  of  the  work,  I  observed  that  a 
large  part  of  the  matter  adapted  to  my  purpose  was 
narrative,  and  much  of  it  statistical  j  the  events  were 
frequently  surprising,  and  the  statistics  quite  unprece- 
dented. It  seemed  better,  therefore,  on  all  subjects  con- 
cerning which  any  question  might  arise,  to  use  the  pre- 
cise language  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  biographer,  in  whom 
all  reliance  may  be  placed.  A  large  part  of  the  work  is 
thus  presented  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Hanna.  The  passa- 
ges are  not  commonly  designated  by  quotation  marks, 
it  being  supposed  that  this  general  acknowledgment 
would  be  sufficient. 


Some  time  after  the  volume  was  completed,  and  was 
in  fact  already  in  the  hands  of  the  publishers,  I  received 
a  ropy  of  the  "  Life  of  Chalmers,"  published  by  the 
Massachusetts  Sabbath  School  Society.  I  read  it  at 
once  with  care.  The  design  of  the  author  I  found  was 
quite  different  from  my  own.  His  work  is  properly  an 
abridged  Life  of  Chalmers,  designed  for  general  reading. 
The  present  little  work  is  not  strictly  a  Life  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, but,  as  has  been  already  intimated3  a  memoir  of 
that  particular  phase  of  his  character  which  was  dis- 


viii  PREFACE. 

played  in  his  Parochial  and  Philanthropic  labors,  and 
is  designed  specially  to  aid,  by  his  precepts,  example, 
and  general  principles  of  action,  both  ministers  and  pri- 
vate Christians,  who  are,  with  him,  laboring  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  man.  With  designs  so  different,  I 
hope  the  books  will  not  appear  as  rivals,  but  as  co-work- 
ers in  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  be  useful  to  the  persons 
for  whose  benefit  they  are  each  specially  intended. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

EAKLY  LIFE,  UNTIL  HIS  SETTLEMENT  AT  KILMANY. 

Birth  and  Parentage  —Youthful  Characteristics  —  Enters  College  —  Signs 
of  Promise —  Enrolled  as  a  Divinity  Student  — Licensed  to  Preach  — 
Removes  to  Kilmany  —  Teaches  in  Edinburgh  — His  Ordination...  .13 


CHAPTER    II. 

MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY. 

Lectures  on  Mathematics  and  Chemistry  at  St.  Andrews  —  Small  Paro- 
chial Service  —  Dislike  of  Evangelical  Doctrines  and  Books  —  Litera- 
ry Labors  — Sickness  — Serious  Impressions  — New  Views,  Purposes 
and  Aims  —  Clearer  Light  — The  Great  Change  —  Its  outward  Man- 
ifestations —  Regular  Visitation  —  Instruction  of  the  Young  —  Marked 
Results  — Dr.  Chalmers's  own  Statement  — Incident  in  the  General 
Assembly 17 


CHAPTER    III. 

DR.  CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW  — HIS  ELOQUENCE. 

Becomes  Minister  of  the  Tron  Church  in  Glasgow  — His  Popularity  as  a 
Preacher  — Its  Secret  —  Illustrations  of  his  Eloquence,  from  Mr.  Lock- 
hart,  Mr.  Jeffrey,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  and  others  — How  Dr.  Chalmers 
bore  Himself. i5 


CONTENTS. 
f 

CHAPTER    IV. 

PAROCHIAL  LABORS  IN  THE  TRON  CHURCH. 


Dr.  Chalmers's  Principles  of  Action  —  Modes  of  Labor — Difficulties  — 
Sunday  Schools  established  —  How  made  Effective  —  Wonderful  Suc- 
cess  59 


CHAPTER    V. 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS. 


A  New  Field  of  Labor  —  Reasons  for  the  Change  —  Unpromising  Pros- 
pects —  Sunday  Schools  —  Other  Schools —  Great  Success,  and  Reasons 
Therefor  —  Objections  Answered  —  Means  used  for  Religious  Instruc- 
tion —  The  Gospel  to  be  carried  to  the  Masses  —  Dr.  Chalmers's  Asso- 
ciate, and  his  Labors  —  Routine  of  Duty  — Views  and  Achievements 
in  Political  Economy  —  Report  of  the  English  Poor-Law  Commis- 
sioner, E,  C.  Tufnell,  Esq.  —  Review  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  Labors  in  Glas- 
gow —  Call  to  St.  Andrews  —  Reasons  for  its  Acceptance 09 


CHAPTER   VI. 

CHRISTIAN  LABORS  AT  ST.  ANDREWS. 


Survey  of  the  Field  — The  Work  begun  — The  Sabbath  School  — John 
Urquhart—  Passage  from  Dr.  Chalmers  — Development  of  the  Work 
in  St.  Andrews  — New  Interest  in  Missions  — Moral  Character  of  the 
University  —  Innovations  there  —  Opposition  —  The  Gospel  Triumphs 
—  A  wonderful    Change 106 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER    VII. 

RESIDENCE  AT  EDINBURGH  — CHURCH  EXTENSION. 

Dr.  Chalmers  Appointed  to  a  Professorship  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh—His new  Duties — Another  great  Work  —  Truths  which 
formed  the  Basis  of  his  Action  —  Dr.  Chalmers  and  the  High  Com- 
missioner—  The  General  Assembly  undertakes  a  progressive  Move- 
ment—  Dr.  Chalmers  Chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Church  Exten- 
sion—His first  Steps  —  Persevering  Efforts  —  Striking  Results  — 
Retirement  from  this  Service 119 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

ORIGIN  AND  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  FREE  CHURCH. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Established  Church  — New  Life  manifests 
itself — New  Labors  for  Dr.  Chalmers  —  The  Auchterarder  Case  —  En- 
croachments of  the  Civil  Power  —  The  Disruption  —  Scenes  in  the  As- « 
sembly  — Disheartening  Prospects  — Dr.  Chalmers  leads  in  the  Res- 
cue —  Great  Achievements  and  still  brighter  Hopes  —  The  Free  Church 
a  Power  in  the  World  — Its  Home  Labors  and  Foreign  Mission 
Work 138 


CHAPTER    IX. 

LABORS  AT  THE  WEST  PORT. 

The  Life- Aim  of  Dr.  Chalmers  — The  Work  still  unaccomplished  —  Per- 
sistent Purposes  and  Sagacious  Plans  —  A  New  Work  Undertaken  — 
Degradation  of  the  chosen  Field  of  Effort  — Plan  of  Operations  — 
Two  Points  of  special  Importance— First  Meeting  in  the  District  — 
A  School  proposed  and  opened  —  Public  Religious  Services  estab- 
lished—A New  Church  at  the  West  Port—  Wonderful  Results  —  The 
Work  permanent 157 


XII  COX  TEXTS. 

CHAPTER    X. 

PERSONAL  CHARACTER  —  DEATH. 

Intellectual  Gifts  —  Sympathy  with  Nature  — Dr.  Chalmers  a  close  Ob- 
server and  happy  Delineator  —  His  intense  Sympathy  with  Huraanity 
—  Admired  by  the  Learned  and  Cultivated,  as  well  as  the  Humble 
Classes  — Personal  Appearance  — Voice— Contempt  for  Meanness  — 
Anecdotes  —  Abstemiousness  —  Habits  of  Intellectual  Labor  —  Inward 
Experiences  —  Dr.  Chalmers  and  the  Revival  at  Jedburgh  —  Happy 
Closing  Scenes  —  Sudden  and  Peaceful  Death  —  Funeral  —  Tributes  to 
his  Memorv led 


CHAPTER    XI. 
CONCLUSION. 

Review  and  Practical  Suggestions 206 


MEMOIR 


CHAPTER   I. 

EARLY  LIFE,   UNTIL   HIS   SETTLEMENT    AT   KILMANY. 

^2f^HE  Reverend  Thomas  Chalmers  was  born 
jHb)  in  Anstruther,  in  Fife  shire,  March  17, 
1780.  His  parents  were  members  of  the 
established  church  of  Scotland,  persons  of 
great  worth  and  of  earnest  and  consistent 
piety.  Their  household  was  preeminently  Chris- 
tian, and  their  children  were  brought  up  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

In  the  boyhood  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  unusual  intellectual  development. 
He  easily  accomplished  his  tasks,  but  he  did  it 
only  from  necessity.  At  first  he  did  not  turn 
naturally  to  study,  but  gave  himself  rather  to 
youthful  sports,  in  which  he  greatly  excelled.  He 
was  more  distinguished  for  buoyant  animal  spirits, 
love  of  adventure,  inflexible  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose, united  with  great  good  temper,  quickness 

13 


14  MEMOIR  OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

of  wit,  and  the  power  of  influencing  his  fellows, 
than  for  love  of  books  and  steadfast  intellectual  im- 
provement. In  1791,  not  yet  twelve  years  of  age,  he 
entered  the  college  of  St.  Andrews.  He  was  poorly 
prepared,  and  took  but  little  pains  to  remedy  his 
deficiencies.  He  was  young,  boyish,  and  idle, 
caring  more  for  foot-ball,  golf,  and  hand-ball,  than 
for  the  prelections  of  his  professors.  He  was  en- 
thusiastic, persevering  in  everything  that  he  un- 
dertook, giving  his  whole  mind  to  it  ;  and  was 
known  and  beloved  for  the  strictest  integrity  and 
the  warmest  affections.  Thus,  though  he  did  not 
learn  much  from  books,  he  was  in  fact  cultivating 
those  elements  of  character,  which,  when  directed, 
in  subsequent  life,  to  other  objects,  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  his  future  eminence. 

In  the  third  session  at  college,  his  intellect  be- 
gan to  develop  itself.  He  came  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  some  eminent  teachers,  especially  of  Dr. 
James  Brown,  through  whose  influence  he  became 
deeply  interested  in  study.  His  preference  was 
decidedly  for  the  mathematics.  Young  Chalmers 
became  excited  and  absorbed.  Pure  geometry 
specially  attracted  him.  With  the  higher  powers 
of  the  modern  analysis  he  afterwards  became  fa- 
miliarly acquainted ;  and  he  ever  afterwards  con- 
sidered this  species  of  study  one  of  the  best  instru- 
ments of  intellectual  training.  As  he  proceeded, 
he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  various  branches  of 


EARLY    LIFE.  15 

political  science,  and  formed  those  habits  of  gen- 
eralization which  he  displayed  in  so  uncommon  a 
degree  whenever  he  was  called  on  to  apply  gen- 
eral principles  to  any  of  the  interests  of  humanity. 

In  1795,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  age,  he  was 
enrolled  as  a  student  of  divinity.  During  most  of 
the  time,  he  paid  small  attention  to  theology,  be- 
ing wholly  absorbed  in  the  study  of  mathematics. 
Towards  the  latter  part  of  his  course,  however,  he 
read  with  great  care,  "Edwards  on  the  Will."  He 
was  convinced  by  the  author's  reasoning,  and, 
what  is  worthy  of  special  notice,  was  led  by  this 
work  to  entertain  lofty  and  overwhelming  views  of 
the  character  of  God,  which,  for  a  time,  filled  him 
with  rapture  and  admiration.  It  was  some  time 
before  these  elevated  views  subsided. 

He  had,  until  this  time,  almost  wholly  neglected 
the  study  of  English  Composition.  Indeed,  during 
his  first  residence  in  St.  Andrews,  his  letters  are 
said  to  have  abounded  in  grammatical  blunders. 
This  deficiency  he  set  himself  about  in  earnest  to 
correct.  In  less  than  two  years  his  improvement 
was  so  great  that  he  had  formed  that  style  which 
distinguished  him  through  life.  He  became  able, 
with  entire  facility,  even  in  the  midst  of  inter- 
ruptions, to  pour  forth  upon  paper,  his  inmost 
thoughts,  adorned  with  all  the  beauty  of  profuse 
illustration,  and  burning  with  the  fervor  of  his  in- 
tense emotion.     His  progress  in  this  department 


16  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

was  much  accelerated  by  constant  practice  in  the 
debating  societies  of  which  he  became  a  member. 

Upon  leaving  the  University,  he  spent  a  year  as 
a  tutor  in  a  private  family.  At  the  close  of  this 
engagement  he  applied  for  a  license  to  the  Pres- 
bytery of  St.  Andrews.  His  age  did  not  entitle 
him  to  admission ;  but,  by  special  favor,  as  "  a  lad 
of  pregnant  parts,"  he  was  licensed  as  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel  on  the  31st  of  July,  1799,  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  his  age. 

The  two  ensuing  winters  were  spent  in  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  supported  himself  by  teaching 
mathematics  ;  devoting  the  remainder  of  his  time 
to  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite  studies.  He  also  en- 
larged his  field  of  knowledge  by  attending  dili- 
gently the  courses  in  chemistry,  and  Natural  and 
Intellectual  philosophy.  At  the  close  of  this  pe- 
riod of  study  he  became  the  assistant  minister  of 
Cavers.  From  this  place,  after  between  one  and 
two  years,  he  removed  to  Kilmany.  He  was  or- 
dained by  the  Presbytery  of  Cupar,  as  minister  of 
this  parish,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  May,  1803,  in 
the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER    II 


MINISTRY  AT   KIL3IANY. 


T  was  understood,  when  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
settled  at  Kilmany,  that  he  should  be  at  lib- 
erty to  spend  a  portion  of  his  time  as  a 
teacher  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews. 
He  was  therefore  appointed  as  assistant  to 
the  professor  of  mathematics  in  that  institution. 
This  situation  he  held  for  about  two  years,  until, 
for  some  unknown  reason,  he  was  dismissed  by  the 
professor.  Stung  by  what  appeared  to  be  an  act 
of  discourtesy  and  injustice,  he  determined  to  open 
a  course  of  private  lectures  on  mathematics,  to 
which  he  afterwards  added  a  course  on  chemistry. 
Though  at  first  opposed  by  the  officers  of  the  Uni- 
versity y  his  lectures  were  fully  attended.  The 
opposition  gradually  subsided,  and  was  replaced 
by  feelings  of  kindness  and  respect.  He  had  thus 
the  opportunity,  which  he  most  desired,  of  proving 
that  his  dismissal  was  owing  neither  to  deficiency 
in  science,  nor  unworthiness  of  character. 

These  labors  at  St.  Andrews  occupied  alto- 
gether the  greater  part  of  his  time.  It  was  his 
practice,  as  long  as  they  continued,  to  leave  Kil- 

2  17 


18  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

many  on  Monday  and  return  on  Saturday.  Thus 
five  days  in  the  week  were  devoted  to  science, 
and  two  to  the  labors  of  the  ministry.  He  be- 
lieved that  these  two  days  in  the  week  were  suffi- 
cient for  the  discharge  of  all  his  parochial  duties. 
It  happened  that  about  this  time  a  question  arose 
in  the  General  Assembly  respecting  this  union  of 
other  duties  with  those  of  the  ministry.  It  was 
by  many  contended  that  the  two  obligations  were 
incompatible,  and  that  he  who  assumed  the  care 
of  souls  had  no  right  to  embarrass  himself  with 
any  other  engagement.  Into  this  discussion  Dr. 
Chalmers  entered  with  characteristic  zeal.  He 
published  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  in  which  he 
clearly  exhibits  his  views  of  the  duties  of  the  min- 
istry. That  these  views  may  not  be  misrepresent- 
ed we  extract  from  the  pamphlet  the  following 
sentence :  "  The  author  of  this  pamphlet  can  as- 
sert, from  what  to  him  is  the  highest  authority, — 
the  authority  of  his  own  experience,  —  that,  after 
the  satisfactory  discharge  of  his  parish  duties,  a 
minister  may  enjoy  five  days  in  the  week  of  uninter- 
rupted leisure  for  the  prosecution  of  any  science  in 
which  his  tastes  may  dispose  him  to  engage."  He 
performed  all  the  duties  of  his  office  which  at  that 
time  were  commonly  required  of  a  minister.  He 
inculcated  principally  civil,  social,  and  moral  duties, 
with  the  hope  that  thus  he  might  at  least  witness 
a  reformation  in  the  members  of  his  parish.    They 


MINISTRY   AT   KILMANY.  19 

considered  him  an  earnest  preacher,  frequently 
too  abstract  for  them  to  understand,  but  yet  one 
whose  undissembled  kindness  of  heart  rendered 
him  unusually  acceptable.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  not  unwilling  to  express  his  dislike  of  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  specially  he 
believed  the  doctrines  of  the  atonement  and  of 
salvation  by  Christ,  nothing  better  than  the  dream 
of  fanaticism.  One  day,  bending  over  the  pulpit, 
and  putting  on  the  books  named  the  strong  em- 
phasis of  dislike,  he  said,  "  Many  books  aie  favor- 
ites with  you,  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  no  fa- 
vorites of  mine.  When  you  are  reading  Newton's 
Sermons,  and  Baxter's  "  Saint's  Rest,"  and  Dod- 
dridge's "  Rise  and  Progress,"  where  do  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John  go  to  ? "  As  though  the 
readers  of  these  books  which  he  disliked,  were 
not  also  the  most  devout  students  of  the  Bible ! 
It  is  interesting  to  observe  that,  soon  after  uttering 
these  words,  he  was  called  upon  to  attend  the  death- 
bed of  his  brother ;  and  at  the  request  of  the  latter, 
read  to  him  portions  of  these  very  works.  His 
brother  died  in  sweet  submission  to  the  holy  will 
of  God,  and  with  a  satisfactory  hope  of  mercy  in 
Christ. 

When  his  engagements  at  St.  Andrews  termi- 
nated, he  soon  entered  on  the  labors  of  authorship. 
He  published  a  volume  entitled  "  An  Inquiry  into 
the  Extent  and  Stability  of  the  National  Resour- 


20  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

ces."  He  became  a  contributor  to  the  Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia,  for  which  he  wrote  several  valuable 
articles  ;  but  especially  the  article  on  Christianity, 
which  soon  brought  him  into  very  favorable  no- 
tice. 

In  the  midst  of  these  Labors  he  was  shocked  to 
hear  of  the  sudden  death  of  one  of  his  uncles ; 
and  shortly  after  was  himself  seized  with  a  severe 
illness,  which  almost  proved  fatal.  For  weeks  he 
was  greatly  prostrated,  though  his  mind  remained 
unclouded  and  vigorous.  The  sudden  death  of 
his  uncle  and  his  own  nearness  to  the  grave  had 
upon  him  a  great  and  solemn  effect.  "  My  con- 
finement," said  he,  "  has  fixed  on  my  heart  a  very 
strong  impression  of  the  insignificance  of  time,  an 
impression  which  I  trust  will  not  abandon  me, 
though  I  again  reach  the  heyday  of  health  and 
vigor.  Strip  human  life  of  its  connections  with  a 
higher  scene  of  existence,  and  it  is  the  illusion  of 
an  instant,  an  unmeaning  farce,  a  series  of  visions 
and  prospects  and  convulsive  efforts,  which  termi- 
nate in  nothing.  I  have  been  reading  "  Pascal's 
Thoughts  on  Religion."  You  know  his  history :  a 
man  of  the  richest  endowments,  and  whose  youth 
was  signalized  by  his  profound  and  original  spec- 
ulations in  mathematical  science,  but  who  could 
stop  short  in  the  career  of  discovery,  who  could  re- 
sign all  the  splendors  of  literary  reputation,  who 
could  renounce,  without  a  sigh,  all  the  distinctions 


MINISTRY   AT   KILMANY.  21 

that  are  conferred  upon  genius,  and  resolve  to  de- 
vote every  talent  and  every  hour  to  the  defence  and 
illustration  of  the  gospel.  This  is  superior  to  all 
Greek  and  all  Roman  fame." 

Thus  the  Spirit  of  God  commenced  his  work 
by  teaching  him  the  utter  worthlessness  of  liter- 
ary reputation,  the  idol  to  which  he  had  thus  far 
yielded  his  heart-felt  adoration.  His  mind  natu- 
rally turned  towards  those  objects  which  alone 
possess  real  and  permanent  importance.  The  im- 
pression now  made  never  vanished  from  his 
thoughts.  It  grew  deeper  and  deeper,  until  the 
full  light  of  the  gospel  burst  upon  his  soul. 

The  deaths  which  had  occurred  in  his  family, 
and  his  own  protracted  and  alarming  illness,  had 
produced  on  Dr.  Chalmers  a  decided  impression. 
He  saw  at  once  the  vanity  of  the  objects  which 
he  had  been  pursuing  with  so  great  eagerness, 
and  also  the  unspeakable  importance  of  a  prepa- 
ration for  eternity.  He  could  discover  in  himself 
nothing  which  could  enable  him  to  appear  with 
confidence  before  a  holy  God.  He  saw  that  he 
had  neglected  the  things  unseen  and  eternal.  The 
clear,  unchallengeable  right  belonged  to  God,  over 
the  full  affection  of  his  heart,  the  unremitting  ser- 
vice of  his  life ;  but  no  such  affection  had  been 
entertained,  and  it  had  been  but  seldom  that  a 
distinct  regard  for  the  will  of  God  had  given 
birth  or  direction  to  any  movement  of  his  past 


22  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

history.  He  felt  that  the  Creator's  claims  over 
him  had  been  particularly  disallowed  and  dis- 
honored during  his  whole  life.  The  superficial 
faith  of  former  years  could  not  satisfy  him,  could 
not  stand  the  scrutiny  of  a  sick-room,  it  could  not 
bear  to  be  confronted  with  death ;  for,  surely,  if 
man  have  a  God  to  serve,  and  an  eternity  beyond 
death  to  provide  for,  toward  that  God  a  supreme 
and  abiding  sense  of  obligation  should  be  cher- 
ished, and  to  the  providing  for  that  eternity  the 
efforts  of  a  whole  lifetime  should  be  consecrated. 
Convinced  of  his  error,  he  resolved  upon  a  change. 
Remembering  that  this  fleeting  pilgrimage  was  a 
scene  of  trial,  a  place  of  spiritual  probation,  he  re- 
solved that  he  would  dedicate  himself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God,  and  live  with  the  high  aim  and  pur- 
pose of  one  who  was  in  training  for  eternity. 
Every  thought  of  his  heart,  every  word  of  his 
mouth,  every  action  of  his  life,  he  would  hence- 
forth strive  to  regulate  under  a  high,  presiding 
sense  of  his  responsibility  to  God.  With  all  the 
ardor  of  a  nature  which  never  could  do  anything 
by  halves,  with  all  the  fervor  of  an  enthusiasm 
which  had  at  length  found  an  object  worthy  of 
its  whole  energies  at  their  highest  pitch  of  effort, 
he  gave  himself  to  the  great  work  of  setting 
himself  right  with  God.  This  resolution,  how- 
ever, did  not  originate  in  any  change  in  his 
speculative  belief  induced  by  his  studies,  either 


MINISTRY  AT   KILMANY.  23 

of  the  contents  or  the  credentials  of  the  Bible. 
This  attempt  to  keep  the  whole  law  of  God  dis- 
covered to  him  the  pervading,  defiling  element  of 
ungodliness,  and  gave  him  other  notions  of  human 
depravity  than  those  which  he  had  previously 
entertained.  With  this  altered  view  of  human 
sinfulness,  there  came  also  an  altered  view  of  the 
atonement.  He  was  prepared  to  recognize  in  the 
death  of  Christ  a  true  and  proper  sacrifice  for  sin. 
Still,  while  looking  to  that  death  for  the  removal 
of  past  sins,  he  believed  that  it  lay  wholly  with 
himself,  after  he  had  been  forgiven,  to  approve 
himself  to  God,  to  win  the  divine  favor,  and  to 
work  out  the  title  to  an  heavenly  inheritance. 

From  a  journal  kept  during  the  following  year, 
we  cannot  but  perceive  that  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
most  earnestly  engaged  in  an  honest  effort  to  keep 
the  whole  law  of  God,  and  by  so  doing  to  recom- 
mend himself  to  an  offended  Judge.  Everywhere 
we  perceive  his  consciousness  of  the  failure  of  his 
efforts,  and  his  conviction  of  the  innate  sinfulness 
of  man.  We  cannot  but  admire  the  earnestness 
of  his  endeavor,  his  increased  understanding  of 
the  purity  of  the  law  of  God,  and  his  faithful  deal- 
ing with  his  own  conscience.  He  says  of  himself, 
referring  to  this  time,  "  I  was,  in  fact,  a  practical 
deist,  excepting  in  a  kind  of  tenderness  for  some 
tenets,  and  a  reversionary  out-look  for  final  happi- 


24  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  just  after  the  death  of 
one  of  his  sisters,  he  took  up  and  read  with  much 
attention  "  Wilberforce's  Practical  View."  He 
was  particularly  struck  with  the  following  pas- 
sage :  "  We  are  loudly  called  upon,"  said  Mr.  W., 
"  to  examine  well  our  foundations.  If  anything 
be  unsound  or  hollow,  the  superstructure  could 
not  be  safe  though  its  exterior  were  less  suspi- 
cious. Let  the  question  be  asked,  and  let  the 
answer  be  returned  with  all  the  consideration  and 
solemnity  which  such  a  question  jiistly  demands, 
whether,  in  the  grand  concern  of  all,  the  means 
of  a  sinner's  acceptance  with  God,  there  be  not 
reason  to  apprehend  that  nominal  Christians  too 
generally  entertain  very  superficial  and  confused, 
if  not  highly  dangerous  notions."  Again  he  found 
his  own  condition  strikingly  delineated  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  "  There  are,  it  is  to  be  apprehend- 
ed, not  a  few,  who  having  thought  little,  or 
scarcely  at  all,  about  religion-,  have  become  at 
length  in  some  degree  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
its  infinite  importance.  A  fit  of  sickness,  perhaps, 
the  loss  of  a  friend  or  much-loved  relative,  or  some 
other  stroke  of  adverse  fortune,  damps  their  spir- 
its to  all  human  things,  and  turns  them  to  seek 
for  some  more  stable  foundation  of  happiness  than 
this  world  can  afford.  Looking  unto  themselves 
ever  so  little,  they  become  sensible  that  they 
must   have  offended  God.     They  resolve  accord- 


MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY.  25 

ingly  to  set  about  the  work  of  reformation. 
Again  and  again  they  resolve,  again  and  again 
they  break  their  resolutions.  All  their  endeavors 
are  foiled,  and  they  become  more  and  more  con- 
vinced of  their  own  moral  weakness,  and  of  the 
strength  of  their  inherent  corruption.  These  men 
are  pursuing  the  right  object,  but  they  mistake 
the  path  in  which  it  is  to  be  obtained.  The  path 
in  which  they  are  now  treading  is  not  that  which 
the  gospel  has  provided  for  conducting  them  to 
true  holiness ;  nor  will  they  find  in  it  any  solid 
peace.  The  holy  Scriptures  call  upon  those  who 
are  in  the  circumstances  now  stated  to  lay  afresh 
the  whole  foundation  of  their  religion.  The  na- 
ture of  that  holiness  which  the  true  Christian 
seeks  to  possess  is  no  other  than  the  restoration 
of  the  image  of  God  to  his  own  soul ;  and  as  to 
the  manner  of  acquiring  it,  —  disclaiming  with  in- 
dignation every  idea  of  attaining  it  by  his  own 
strength,  —  he  rests  altogether  on  the  operation 
of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  promised  to  all  who 
cordially  obey  the  gospel.  He  knows,  therefore, 
that  this  holiness  is  not  to  precede  his  reconcilia- 
tion with  God  and  be  its  cause,  but  to  follow  and 
be  its  effect ;  that,  in  short,  it  is  by  faith  in  Christ 
only  that  he  is  to  be  justified  in  the  sight  of  God." 
Tiie  reading  of  Wilberforce's  View  was  the 
means  of  special  benefit  to  Dr.  Chalmers.  He 
was  thus  taught  that  we  are  sinful,  helpless  and 


26  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

undone ;  that  salvation  by  our  own  efforts  is  im- 
possible, and  that  the  attempt  to  work  out  a  right- 
eousness by  ourselves  is  absurd.  He  saw  that  our 
pardon  must  come  alone  from  the  atonement  of 
Him  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us,  and 
that  this  pardon  is  offered  to  all  who  believe.  He 
was  led  to  see  that,  believing  in  Christ,  a  new 
spirit  is  given  to  us,  so  that  with  the  whole  heart 
we  serve  him  from  love  ;  that  what  the  law  could 
not  do  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God 
sending  his  own  Son,  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh, 
and  for  sin  (as  an  offering  for  sin),  condemned  sin 
in  the  flesh,  —  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law 
might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh  but  after  the  spirit.  The  good  news  thus 
offered  to  him  he  embraced  with  his  whole  soul. 
As  a  helpless,  condemned  sinner,  renouncing  all 
merit  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  justly  exposed  to 
the  condemnation  of  the  law,  he  cast  himself  on 
Christ  alone  for  pardon,,  he  yielded  up  his  whole 
soul  to  be  governed  alone  by  his  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
clothed  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  he  felt  that 
he  could  approach  into  the  presence  of  immaculate 
purity,  and  claim  the  privilege  of  the  sons  of  God. 
For  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  His 
whole  life  was  henceforth  governed  by  a  new  prin- 
ciple.    Instead  of  laboring,  by  his  own  efforts,  to 


MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY.  27 

frame  a  righteousness  which  might  recommend  him 
to  God,  every  power  of  his  soul  was  employed  in 
showing  forth  the  praises  of  Him  who  had  called 
him  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light. 

When  he  reflected  on  this  subject,  he  saw  that 
while  he  had  striven  with  his  whole  heart  to  keep 
the  law  of  God,  it  had  still  kept  ahead  of  him, 
with  a  kind  of  over-matching  superiority  to  all  his 
efforts.  His  attempt  to  scale  the  heights  of  per- 
fection, to  quell  the  remonstrances  of  a  challeng- 
ing and  yet  unappeased  commandment,  was  like 
the  laborious  ascent  of  him,  who,  having  so  wasted 
his  strength  that  he  can  do  no  more,  finds  that 
some  precipice  remains  to  be  overcome,  some 
mountain  brow  that  scorns  his  enterprise  and 
threatens  to  overwhelm  him.  He  repaired  to  the 
atonement  to  supply  his  deficiencies,  and  as  the 
ground  of  his  assurance  that  God  would  look 
upon  him  with  a  propitious  eye ;  still  an  unappeas- 
able disquietude  hung  heavy  upon  his  heart,  until 
at  last  he  came  to  see  that  the  Saviour  had  al- 
ready and  completely  done  for  him,  what  with  so 
much  strenuousness,  and  with  so  little  success,  he 
had  been  striving  to  do  for  himself.  He  accepted 
with  his  whole  heart  the  hand  thus  offered  in  the 
gospel ;  it  was  a  personal,  sincere  seeking,  and  re- 
ceiving from  a  personal  Saviour,  the  free  remis- 
sion of  all  his  sins,  and  power  to  become  a  son 
of  God ;  and,  like  the  woman  in  the  gospel  who 


28  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

touched  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment,  he  felt 
in  himself  that  he  was  healed  of  his  plague.  In 
a  letter  written  subsequently,  he  remarks,  "  I  am 
most  thoroughly  of  the  opinion,  and  it  is  an  opin- 
ion founded  on  experience,  that  on  the  system  of 
Do  this  and  live,  no  peace,  and  even  no  true  and 
worthy  obedience,  can  ever  be  attained.  It  is  Be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved.  When  this  belief  enters  the  heart,  joy 
and  confidence  enter  along  with  it.  We  look  to 
God  in  a  new  light,  we  see  him  as  a  reconciled 
Father.  That  love  to  him  which  terror  scares 
away,  reenters  the  heart,  and,  with  a  new  prin- 
ciple and  a  new  power,  we  become  new  creatures 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

The  change  in  the  inmost  principle  of  his  soul 
is  manifest  from  his  journal  and  letters  to  his  fam- 
ily. From  them  we  select  a  few  extracts :  "  A  re- 
view of  this  day  brings  home  to  my  conviction  the 
futility  of  resting  a  man's  hope  of  salvation  upon 
mere  obedience ;  that  there  is  no  confidence  but 
in  Christ;  that  the  best  security  in  fact  for  the  per- 
forming of  our  duties  is  that  faith  that  works  by 
love,  and  which,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  will 
carry  us  to  a  height  of  moral  excellence  that  a 
mere  principle  of  duty,  checked  and  disappointed 
as  it  must  often  be  in  its  efforts  after  unattainable 
perfection,  never  could  have  reached." 

Again:  "May  I  every  day  feel  a  growing  inter- 


MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY.  29 

est  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  let  me  evince  in 
my  own  conduct  that  the  doctrine  of  faith  is  a 
doctrine  according  to  godliness." 

Again :  "  Make  me  to  feel  a  clear  union  with 
thee  in  Christ.  May  I  taste  the  joys  of  thy  chosen, 
and  rejoice  in  the  contemplation  of  that  everlast- 
ing crown  which  is  laid  up  for  all  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  in  sincerity  and  truth.  May  I  be  faith- 
ful in  all  the  duties  of  my  calling,  and  may  the 
care  of  the  souls  of  my  people  engross  more  of  my 
time  and  prayers  and  strenuous  exertion.  All  I 
ask  is  for  the  sake  of  Him  to  whom  with  Thee  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  I  give  all  the  praise  and  all  the 
glory." 

A  few  extracts  from  his  correspondence  with  his 
family  exhibit  the  same  tone  of  mind :  "  I  must 
say  that  I  never  had  s  so  close  and  satisfactory  a 
view  of  the  gospel  salvation  as  when  I  have  been 
led  to  contemplate  it  in  the  light  of  a  simple  offer 
on  the  one  side,  and  a  simple  acceptance  on  the 
other.  It  is  just  saying  to  one  and  all  of  us, 
'There  is  forgiveness  through  the  blood  of  my 
Son ;  take  it ; '  and  whosoever  believes  the  reality 
of  the  offer  takes  it.  It  is  not  in  any  shape  the 
reward  of  your  own  services.  It  is  the  gift  of 
God,  through  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  The  Son  of 
man  was  so  lifted  up  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
Mm  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

Again  :  "  That  sanctification  which  out  of  Christ 


30  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

none  can  reach,  is  only  found  in  close  union  with 
him,  and  if  we  maintain  what  may  be  called  the 
gospel  attitude  of  mind,  which  is  looking  unto 
Jesus,  we  shall  obtain  of  his  spirit,  we  shall  be 
changed  into  his  image,  we  shall  be  strengthened 
for  all  duty." 

Again  :  "  The  right  way  is  to  look  to  Jesus  as 
lifted  up  for  sin,  and  we  have  his  authority  for 
saying,  that  whosoever  so  looketh  shall  be  saved ; 
saved  from  sin  in  all  its  malignity,  saved  not 
merely  from  condemnation  but  its  power;  re- 
deemed from  its  curse,  and  redeemed  from  its 
dominion  ;  so  that,  by  the  operation  of  this  rem- 
edy alone,  we  are  washed,  sanctified,  and  justified 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  spirit 
of  our  God." 

One  more :  "  If  I  have  any  experience  which  I 
can  speak  clearly  upon  at  all,  it  is  that  I  am  never 
more  qualified  for  keeping  the  commandments 
than  when  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Saviour  and 
resting  upon  his  righteousness ;  than  when  under 
the  influence  of  a  gospel  hope,  and  looking  upon 
the  salvation  of  Christ  as  all  a  matter  of  grace 
and  freeness." 

From  such  a  change  in  Dr.  Chalmers's  views  of 
the  salvation  of  the  gospel,  and  from  so  solemn  a 
view  of  the  realities  of  eternity,  it  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  important  practical  results  would 
follow.     This  was  visible  in  many  respects.-     His 


MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY.  31 

tastes  were  greatly  changed.  The  study  of  math- 
ematics, upon  which  he  had  looked  as  his  great 
field  for  literary  distinction,  he  relinquished  en- 
tirely. The  hooks  of  which  he  had  publicly  spoken 
with  scorn  as  the  objects  of  his  peculiar  dislike, 
now  became  his  chosen  companions.  He  became 
deeply  interested  in  Henry,  Doddridge,  Baxter, 
and  authors  of  the  same  kind,  and  they  became 
his  select  companions.  It  was,  however,  in  the 
devout  study  of  the  Scriptures  that  this  change 
especially  manifested  itself.  His  nearest  neighbor, 
with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  easy  familiarity, 
before  the  illness  to  which  we  have  referred,  said 
once  to  Dr.  Chalmers,  "  I  find  you  aye  busy  with 
one  thing  and  another,  but  come  when  I  may,  I 
never  find  you  at  your  studies  for  the  Sabbath." 
"  Oh,  an  hour  or  two  on  the  Saturday  evening  is 
quite  enough  for  that,"  was  the  minister's  reply. 
But  now  a  change  had  come,  and  John  on  enter- 
ing the  manse  often  found  Dr.  Chalmers  poring 
eagerly  over  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  The  differ- 
ence was  too  striking  to  escape  notice  ;  and  with 
the  freedom  given  him  he  said,  "  I  never  come  in 
now,  sir,  but  I  find  you  aye  at  your  Bible."  "  All 
too  little,  John !  all  too  little !  "  was  the  signifi- 
cant reply. 

This  change  in  his  religious  sentiments  pro- 
duced, however,  more  noticeable  results  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 


32  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

Parochial  duties  pressed  lightly  on  him  during  the 
first  years  of  his  settlement  at  Kilmany.  If,  as  he 
declared  before  the  General  Assembly,  he  expended 
as  much  effort  on  the  religious  improvement  of 
his  people  as  any  minister  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Presbytery,  the  standards  to  which  he  ap- 
pealed must  have  been  lamentably  low.  The  sick 
and  dying  among  his  parishioners  even  then  he 
did  not  neglect.  He  made  kind  inquiries,  exhib- 
ited a  tender  sympathy,  and  extended  needful  aid  ; 
but  no  solicitude  was  manifested  as  to  their  reli- 
gious condition  ;  no  references  occurred,  in  visit- 
ing them,  to  their  prospects  for  eternity ;  and  it 
was  only  when  specially  requested  to  do  so  that 
he  engaged  in  prayer.  Two  or  three  weeks  were 
annually  devoted  to  the  visitation  of  his  parish. 
This,  however,  was  so  rapidly  conducted  that  he 
scarcely  did  more  than  hurriedly  enter  a  dwelling, 
to  summon  its  inmates  to  a  short  address  given  in 
some  neighboring  apartment,  and  confined  gener- 
ally to  one  or  other  of  the  more  ordinary  morali- 
ties of  domestic  life.  With  the  general  body  of  his 
parishioners  he  had  little  intercourse.  He  spent 
but  little  time  upon  his  pulpit  preparations.  "  I 
have  known  him,"  said  a  friend,  "  not  to  begin 
them  until  Sabbath  morning."  His  sermons  were 
in  general  very  short ;  but  they  were  written  with 
fervor  and  delivered  with  much  animation.  He 
never  used  so  ardent  and  significant  an  elocution 


MINISTRY  AT   KILMANY.  S3 

as  in  his  extempore  expostulations  upon  stealing  or 
lying  or  backbiting. 

Upon  the  whole,  however,  until  the  period  of 
his  long  illness  at  Fincraigs,  of  which  we  have 
spoken  as  one  of  the  occasions  of  his  change 
of  religious  views,  Dr.  Chalmers'  ministry  was 
unpopular  and  ineffective.  His  church  was  but 
poorly  attended,  and  his  private  ministrations 
followed  only  by  trifling  effects.  But  with  the 
change,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  there  came 
a  total  alteration  in  the  discharge  of  all  his  paro- 
chial duties.  The  spiritual  care  and  cultivation  of 
his  parish  became  the  supreme  object  of  his  life. 
To  break  up  the  peace  of  the  indifferent  and 
secure,  by  exposing  at  once  the  guilt-  of  their 
ungodliness  and  its  fearful  issue  in  a  ruined  eter- 
nity ;  to  spread  out  an  invitation  wide  as  heaven's 
all-embracing  love,  to  accept  of  eternal  life  in 
Jesus  Christ ;  to  plead  with  all,  that  instantly  and 
heartily,  with  all  good-will,  and  with  full  and  un- 
reserved submission,  they  should  give  themselves 
up  in  absolute  and  entire  dedication  to  the  Re- 
deemer ;  these  were  the  objects  for  which  he 
was  now  seen  to  strive  with  such  a  severity  of 
conviction  as  implied  that  he  had  one  thing  to  do, 
and  with  such  a  concentration  of  forces  as  to  idle 
spectators,  looked  like  insanity.  Most  earnest 
entreaties  that  every  sinner  he  spoke  to  should 
come  to  Christ  just  as  he  was,  and  bury  all  his 

3 


34  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

fears  in  the  sufficiency  of  the  great  atonement, 
were  presented  in  all  possible  forms,  and  delivered 
in  all  different  kinds  of  tones  and  attitudes.  "He 
would  bend  over  the  pulpit,"  said  one  of  his  old 
hearers,  "  and  press  us  to  take  the  gift  as  if  he 
held  it  that  moment  in  his  hand,  and  would  not 
be  satisfied  until  every  one  of  us  had  got  possession 
of  it.  And  often  when  the  sermon  was  over  and 
the  psalm  was  sung,  and  he  rose  to  pronounce  the 
blessing,  he  would  break  out  afresh  with  some 
new  entreaty,  unwilling  to  let  us  go  until  he  had 
made  one  more  effort  to  persuade  us  to  accept  of 
it." 

As  soon  as  he  returned  to  Kilmany  after  his  mem- 
orable sickness  at  Fincraigs,  he  first  of  all  visited 
all  the  sick  and  dying  and  bereaved  of  his  parish. 
His  interest  in  this,as  in  every  other  part  of  his  min- 
isterial labor,  grew  with  his  own  advancing  light 
and  love.  During  the  years  1813  and  1814,  the 
only  two  years  of  full  ministerial  labor  at  Kil- 
many, he  made  a  few  short-hand  memoranda  en- 
titled, "  Records  of  my  Spiritual  Intercourse  with 
my  People."  They  are  occupied  with  notes  of 
visits  and  conversations  with  the  sick,  the  dying, 
and  the  impenitent ;  and  teach  us  how  deeply  his 
soul  was  stirred  with  the  solemn  responsibility 
resting  upon  him,  and  how  controlling  was  that 
love  of  souls  which  compelled  him  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature. 


MINISTRY  AT   KILMANY.  35 

He  continued  his  practice  of  visiting  his  parish, 
but,  instead  of  finishing  this  work  in  a  fortnight, 
it  occupied  him  the  whole  year.  The  visit  on 
these  occasions  was  not  merely  an  agreeable  rec- 
ognition and  a  pleasant  ceremony.  It  was  im- 
proved by  Dr.  Chalmers  as  an  occasion  for  earnest 
conversation  on  the  subject  of  personal  religion, 
with  the  members  of  the  family,  and  of  solemn 
exhortation  to  lay  hold  of  the  salvation  offered  in 
the  gospel.  "  I  have  a  very  lively  recollection,'' 
said  Mr.  R.  Edie,  "  of  the  intense  earnestness 
of  his  addresses  on  occasions  of  visitation  in  my 
father's  house,  when  he  would  unconsciously  move 
forward  on  his  chair  to  the  very  margin  of  it,  in 
his  anxiety  to  impart  to  the  family  and  servants 
the  impression  of  eternal  things  that  so  filled  his 
soul."  It  was  in  this  manner  that  he  carried  the 
gospel  to  every  family  in  his  parish,  like  the 
apostle  teaching  publicly  and  from  house  to 
house,  testifying  repentance  toward  God  and  faith 
toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  this  did  not  exhaust  his  efforts.  In  the 
autumn  of  1813  he  opened  a  class,  in  his  own 
house,  upon  the  Saturdays,  for  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  young.  At  first  it  was  intended 
that  it  should  meet  monthly  ;  the  numbers,  how- 
ever, who  presented  themselves  for  instruction,  and 
the  ardor  with  which  they  entered  upon  the  tasks 
imposed,  induced  him  soon  to  hold  the  class  every 


36  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

fortnight,  and  then  every  week.  At  these  meet- 
ings, he  strove  with  great  earnestness  to  impress 
the  truths  of  religion  on  the  minds  of  the  class. 
In  turn  he  was  highly  gratified  by  witnessing  the 
whole  youth  of  the  parish,  even  from  its  remoter  dis- 
tricts, coming  forward  with  such  willingness  ;  and 
he  repaid  their  readiness  to  receive  instruction  by 
making  diligent  preparation  for  communicating  to 
them  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  fixing  relig- 
ious impression  on  their  hearts.  In  no  department 
of  his  ministerial  labors  did  he  take  a  deeper  in- 
terest, and  upon  none,  in  proportion  to  the  space 
which  it  covered,  did  he  bestow  more  pains.  It 
only  a  year  and  a  half  that  the  class  con- 
tinued ;  and  yet  three  years  after  his  departure 
from  Kilmany,  he  could  say,  "  I  met  with  a  more 
satisfactory  evidence  of  good  done  by  a  school 
which  I  taught  at  Kilmany,  than  by  all  I  ever  did 
there  beside."  A  good  encouragement  this  for 
the  efforts  of  private  Christians  in  this  way. 

Nor  did  these  private  labors  interfere  with  his 
diligent  preparation  for  the  Sabbath.  Instead  of 
two  or  three  hours  which  he  formerly  took  for  the 
work  of  preparation,  a  large  part  of  every  week 
was  now  devoted  to  the  duty  of  studying  devoutly 
how  he  best  could  bring  the  truth  home  to  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers.  In  a  letter  to  his  mother, 
he  writes,  "  You  may  tell  my  father  that  I  have 
at  length  come  to  his  opinion,  that  the  peculiar 


MINISTRY   AT  KILMANY.  37 

business  of  his  profession  demands  all  the  time, 
all  the  talents,  and  all  the  energy  that  any  min- 
ister is  possessed  of."  It  was  not,  however,  the 
effort  to  win  or  sustain  a  wide-spread  popularity, 
it  was  not  the  straining  after  originality  of  thought 
or  splendor  of  illustration,  which  gave  to  these 
discourses  their  peculiar  form  and  character. 
They  were,  to  a  great  extent,  the  spontaneous 
product  of  that  new  love  and  zeal  which  divine 
grace  had  implanted  in  his  soul ;  the  shape  and 
texture  of  their  eloquence  springing  from  the 
action  of  that  controlling  motive,  which  concen- 
trated all  his  powers  upon  one  single  and  sublime 
accomplishment,  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  whole  aspect  of  the 
Sabbath  congregations  in  Kilmany  church  was 
changed.  The  stupid  wonder  which  used  to  sit 
on  the  countenances  of  the  few  villagers  or  farm- 
servants  who  attended  divine  service,  was  turned 
into  a  fixed,  intelligent,  and  devout  attention. 
It  was  not  easy  for  the  dullest  to  remain  unin- 
formed ;  for  if  the  preacher  sometimes  soared  too 
high  for  the  best  trained  of  his  people  to  follow 
him,  at  other  times,  and  much  oftener,  he  put  the 
matter  of  his  message  so  as  to  force  for  it  an 
entrance  into  the  most  sluggish  understanding. 
The  church  became  crowded.  The  feeling  grew 
with'  the  numbers  who  shared  in  it.  The  fame  of 
these   wonderful   discourses    spread   through   the 


38  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

neighborhood,  till  at  last  there  was  not  an  adja- 
cent parish  which  did  not  send  its  weekly  contri- 
bution to  his  ministry.  Persons  from  extreme 
distances  in  the  county  found  themselves  side 
by  side,  crowded  into  the  same  pew. 

The  effect  produced  upon  the  audience  can  best 
be  exhibited  by  a  single  incident. 

In  the  spring  of  1812,  he  preached  from  the 
text,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
Two  young  men  heard  this  sermon,  the  one  the 
son  of  a  farmer  in  the  parish,  the  other  the  son  of 
one  of  the  villagers.  They  met  as  the  congrega- 
tion dispersed.  "  Did  you  ever  feel  anything 
particular  in  the  church  to-day  ?  "  said  Alexander 
Pattison  to  his  acquaintance,  Robert  Edie,  as  they 
found  themselves  alone  on  the  road.  "  I  never," 
he  continued,  "  felt  myself  to  be  a  lost  sinner 
until  to-day,  when  I  was  listening  to  that  sermon." 
"  It  is  very  strange,"  said  his  companion  ;  "  it  was 
just  so  with  me."  They  wandered  into  a  planta- 
tion, where,  hidden  from  sight,  they  engaged  in 
mutual  prayer.  They  both  soon  found  peace  in 
believing,  and  both  became  earnest  and  devout 
disciples  of  Christ. 

But  the  most  interesting  account  of  the  result  of 
Dr.  Chalmers'  labors  during  this  period  is  told  by 
himself.    Of  its  truthfulness  there  can  be  no  doubt, 


MINISTRY  AT   KILMANY.  39 

as  it  was  addressed  by  himself  to  those  who  were 
themselves  the  subjects  of  the  experiment  to  which 
he  refers.  It  is  from  an  address  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  parish  of  Kilmany,  published  in  1815. 
Though  rather  long  for  such  a  sketch  as  this,  we 
hope  it  will  obtain,  as  it  certainly  merits,  a  serious 
perusal. 

"  And  here  I  can  but  record  the  effect  of  an  actual, 
though  undesigned,  experiment  which  I  prosecuted 
for  upwards  of  twelve  years  among  you.  For  the 
greater  part  of  that  time  I  could  expatiate  on  the 
meanness  of  dishonesty,  on  the  villany  of  false- 
hood, on  the  despicable  evils  of  calumny;  in  a 
word,  upon  all  those  deformities  of  character 
which  awaken  the  natural  indignation  of  the  hu- 
man heart  against  the  pests  and  disturbers  of 
human  society.  Now,  could  I,  upon  the  strength 
of  these  warm  expostulations,  have  got  a  thief  to 
give  up  his  stealing,  and  the  evil-speaker  his  cen- 
soriousness,  and  the  liar  his  deviations  from  truth, 
I  should  have  felt  the  repose  of  one  who  has  got- 
ten his  ultimate  object.  It  never  occurred  to  me 
that  all  this  might  have  been  done,  and  yet  the 
soul  of  every  hearer  have  remained  in  full  alien- 
ation from  Grod ;  and  that  even  could  I  have 
established  in  the  bosom  of  one  who  stole,  such  a 
principle  of  abhorrence  at  the  meanness  of  dishon- 
esty that  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  steal  no  more, 
he  might  still  have  retained  a  heart  as  completely 


40  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

I 

unturned  to  God,  and  as  totally  unpossessed  by 
a  principle  of  love  to  him,  as  before.  In  a  word, 
though  I  might  have  made  him  a  more  upright 
and  honorable  man,  I  might  have  left  him  as  des- 
titute of  the  essence  of  religious  principle  as  ever. 
But  the  interesting  fact  is,  that  during  the  whole 
of  that  period,  in  which  I  made  no  attempt 
against  the  natural  enmity  of  the  mind  to  God ; 
while  I  was  inattentive  to  the  way  in  which  that 
enmity  is  dissolved,  even  by  the  free  offer  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  believing  acceptance  on  the 
other  of  the  gospel  salvation  ;  while  Christ,  through 
whose  blood  the  sinner,  who  by  nature  stands  afar 
off,  is  brought  near  to  the  heavenly  Lawgiver  whom 
he  has  offended,  was  scarcely  ever  spoken  of,  or 
spoken  of  in  such  a  way  as  stripped  him  of  all  the 
importance  of  his  character  and  offices,  —  even  at 
this  time,  I  certainly  did  press  the  reformations  of 
honor  and  truth  and  integrity  among  my  people, 
but  I  never  once  heard  of  any  such  reformations 
having  been  effected  among  them.  If  there  was 
anything  brought  about  in  this  way,  it  was  more 
than  I  ever  got  any  account  of.  I  am  not  sen- 
sible that  all  the  vehemence  with  which  I  urged 
the  virtues  and  the  proprieties  of  social  life,  had 
the  weight  of  a  feather  on  the  moral  habits  of  my 
parishioners.  And  it  was  not  till  I  got  impressed 
by  the  utter  alienation  of  the  heart,  in  all  its  de- 
sires and  affections,  from  God ;  it  was  not  till  rec- 


MINISTRY  AT  KILMANY.  41 

onciliation  to  him  became  the  distinct  and  pre- 
eminent object  of  my  ministerial  exertions  ;  it  was 
not  till  I  took  the  scriptural  way  of  laying  the 
method  of  reconciliation  before  them  ;  It  was  not 
till  the  free  offer  of  forgiveness  through  the  blood 
of  Christ  was  urged  upon  their  acceptance ;  the 
Holy  Spirit,  given  through  the  channel  of  Christ's 
mediatorship  to  all  who  ask  him,  was  set  before 
them  as  the  unceasing  object  of  their  depend- 
ence and  their  prayers ;  in  one  word,  it  was  not 
till  the  contemplations  of  my  people  were  turned 
to  these  great  and  essential  elements  in  the  busi- 
ness of  a  soul  providing  for  its  interests  with 
God  and  the  concerns  of  its  eternity,  that  I  ever 
heard  of  these  subordinate  reforaiations,  which 
aforetime  made  the  earnest  and  the  zealous,  but,  I 
am  afraid,  at  the  same  time,  the  ultimate  object 
of  my  earlier  ministrations.  Ye  servants,  whose 
scrupulous  fidelity  has  now  attracted  the  notice, 
and  drawn  forth  in  my  hearing  a  delightful  testi- 
mony from  your  masters,  what  mischief  ye  would 
have  done  had  your  zeal  for  doctrines  and  sacra- 
ments been  accompanied  by  the  sloth  and  remiss- 
ness, and  what,  in  the  prevailing  tone  of  moral 
relaxation,  is  accounted  the  allowable  purloin- 
ing of  your  earlier  days !  But  a  sense  of  your 
heavenly  Master's  eye  has  brought  another  in- 
fluence to  bear  upon  you  ;  and  while  you  are  thus 
striving  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  your  God  and 


42  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

Saviour  in  all  things,  you  may,  poor  as  you  are, 
reclaim  the  great  ones  of  the  land  to  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  faith.  You  have  at  least  taught 
me,  that  to  preach  Christ,  is  the  only  effective  way 
of  preaching  morality  in  all  its  branches ;  and  out 
of  your  humble  cottages  have  I  gathered  a  lesson 
which  I  pray  God  I  may  be  enabled  to  carry  with 
all  its  simplicity  into  a  wider  theatre,  and  to  bring 
with  all  the  power  of  its  subduing  efficacy  upon 
the  vices  of  a  more  crowded  population." 

We  will  close  this  account  of  the  ministry  of 
Dr.  Chalmers  at  Kilmany  by  the  relation  of  an 
incident,  which,  though  it  occurred  some  twenty 
years  later,  is,  in  its  subject,  intimately  related  to 
the  extract  above. 

About  the  year  1825  the  subject  of  pluralities 
was  brought  before  the  General  Assembly.  Dr. 
Chalmers,  of  course,  contended  that  the  care  of 
a  parish  was  sufficiently  arduous  to  occupy  the 
whole  of  a  minister's  time,  and  that  he  should  be 
allowed  to  combine  with  it  no  other  calling.  The 
debate  was  earnest  and  protracted.  At  the  close 
of  the  second  day  a  member  on  the  opposite  side 
read  from,  as  he  said,  an  anonymous  pamphlet,  a 
quotation  in  which  the  author  asserted  from  what 
to  him  was  the  highest  authority,  —  "  the  authority 
of  his  own  experience,  —  that  after  the  satisfactory 
discharge  of  his  parish  duties,  a  minister  may  en- 
joy five  days  in  the  week  of  uninterrupted  leisure 


MINISTRY   AT   KILMANY.  43 

for  the  prosecution  of  any  science  in  which  his 
tastes  may  dispose  him  to  engage." 

In  an  instant  all  eyes  were  turned  toward  Dr. 
Chalmers.  The  interposition  of  another  speech 
gave  him  a  brief  period  of  recollection.  At  the 
close  of  the  debate  he  spoke  a  few  words  amidst 
breathless  silence.  The  speech  was  substantially 
as  follows :  — 

"  Sir  :  that  pamphlet  I  now  declare  to  have  been 
a  production  of  my  own,  published  twenty  years 
ago.  I  was  indeed  much  surprised  to  hear  it 
brought  forward  and  quoted  this  evening;  but 
since  it  has  been  brought  forward  in  the  face  of 
this  house,  I  can  assure  the  gentleman  that  I  feel 
grateful  to  him  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for 
the  opportunity  which  he  has  now  afforded  me  of 
making  a  public  recantation  of  the  sentiments  it 
contains.  I  now  confess  myself  to  have  been 
guilty  of  a  heinous  crime,  and  I  now  stand  a  re- 
pentant culprit  before  the  bar  of  this  venerable 
Assembly. 

"The  circumstances  attending  the  publication 
of  my  pamphlet  were,  shortly,  as  follows :  As  far 
back  as  twenty  years  ago,  I  was  ambitious  enough 
to  aspire  to  be  successor  to  Professor  Playfair,  in 
the  mathematical  chair  of  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh. During  the  discussions  that  then  took 
place,  it  was  stated  that  no  person  could  be  found 
competent  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  mathcmat- 


44  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

ical  chair,  among  the  clergymen  of  the  church  of 
Scotland.  I  was  at  that  time,  sir,  more  devoted 
to  mathematics  than  to  the  literature  of  my  pro- 
fession, and,  feeling  grieved  and  indignant  at 
what  I  conceived  an  undue  reflection  on .  the 
abilities  and  education  of  our  clergy,  I  came  for- 
ward with  that  pamphlet  to  rescue  them  from 
what  I  deemed  an  unmerited  reproach,  by  main- 
taining that  a  devoted  and  exclusive  attention  to 
the  study  of  the  mathematics  was  not  dissonant  to 
the  proper  habits  of  a  clergyman.  Alas,  sir,  so  I 
thought  in  my  ignorance  and  pride  !  I  have  now 
no  reserve  in  saying  that  the  sentiment  was  wrong, 
and  in  the  utterance  of  it,  I  penned  what  was 
most  outrageously  wrong.  Strangely  blinded  that 
I  was !  What,  sir,  is  the  object  of  mathematical 
science  ?  Magnitude  and  the  proportions  of  mag- 
nitude. But  then,  sir,  I  had  forgotten  two  mag- 
nitudes. I  thought  not  of  the  littleness  of  time, 
I  recklessly  thought  not  of  the  greatness  of  eter- 
nity." 

For  a  moment  or  two  after  the  last  words  were 
spoken  a  deathlike  stillness  reigned  throughout 
the  house.  The  power  and  pathos  of  the  scene 
were  overwhelming,  and  we  shall  search  long  in 
the  lives  of  the  most  illustrious  ere  we  find 
another  instance  in  which  the  sentiment,  the  act, 
the  utterance,  each  rose  to  the  same  level  of  sub- 
limity, and  stood  so  equally  embodied  in  one 
impressive  spectacle. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.  CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW  —  REMARKABLE  ELO- 
QUENCE. 

•ARLY  in  the  year  1815,  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
chosen  minister  of  the  Tron  Church  in 
Glasgow,  and  in  July  of  the  same  year  he 
was  regularly  inducted  into  office.  With 
many  and  severe  regrets  he  left  Kilmany, 
where  he  had  been  pastor  twelve  years  ;  the  place 
of  his  spiritual  birth,  where  his  usefulness  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  first  developed  itself,  and 
where  the  fruits  of  his  labors  were  everywhere 
apparent.  The  whole  parish  looked  upon  him 
as  a  personal  friend  as  well  as  a  spiritual  in- 
structor, and  he  fully  reciprocated  their  affection. 
To  the  end  of  his  life  Kilmany  seems  to  have  been 
the  home  of  his  heart,  to  which  he  involuntarily 
turned  when  he  was  wearied  with  the  labor  and 
bustle  of  ordinary  life. 

He  entered  upon  his  settlement  in  Glasgow  in 
his  thirty-fifth  year,  with  all  his  faculties  in  their 
highest  condition  of  vigorous  maturity.  Much  had 
been  anticipated  for  him  by  his  friends,  but  their 
anticipations  were  more  than  realized.     In  all  his 

45 


46  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

public  ministrations  he  displayed  a  power  over  the 
human  heart  such  as  they  had  never  seen  paral- 
leled. He  felt  the  importance  of  his  position,  and 
he  resolved  to  occupy  it  to  the  uttermost.  Glas- 
gow was,  as  it  were,  taken  by  storm.  His  church 
was  soon  filled  to  the  uttermost.  Soon  the  house 
would  not  contain  the  throngs  that  pressed  to  hear 
him,  and  hundreds  were  obliged  to  go  away  every 
Sunday,  who  could  by  no  means  gain  admission. 
Nor  did  this  occur  merely  in  one  church,  it  was 
so  wherever  he  preached.  He  spent  a  week  in 
London  about  this  time,  during  the  May  anniver- 
saries. Wherever  it  was  known  that  he  was  to 
officiate,  the  street  was  crowded  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  church  with  thousands  anxious  to  secure  a 
seat.  On  one  occasion  he  was  unable  to  enter  the 
door  himself,  and  was  obliged  to  get  into  the  pulpit 
through  a  window  which  he  scaled  with  no  incon- 
siderable difficulty. 

In  fact  God  had  endowed  him,  in  a  wonderful 
degree,  with  those  elements  which  above  all  others 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  eloquence.  His  love  for 
humanity  was  intense.  The  woes  of  his  brethren 
touched  him  as  if  they  were  his  own,  and  the 
sight  of  innocence  trampled  in  the  dust  by 
lawless  and  insolent  power  goaded  him  almost 
beyond  endurance.  He  was  capable  of  being 
thoroughly  excited  by  his  own  conceptions,  and 
every  feeling  of  his  soul  found  adequate  utterance 


DR.  CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  47 

in  those  wonderful  tones  of  voice  which  carried 
his  burning  thoughts,  not  merely  to  the  ear,  but 
to  the  inmost  soul  of  those  whom  he  addressed.  ' 
His  love  of  nature  amounted  to  a  passion.  He 
enjoyed  with  the  keenest  zest  every  scene  on 
which  his  eyes  rested,  whether  in  sunshine  or 
storm,  whether  in  the  vast  or  the  minute, 
whether  lowly  or  sublime ;  and  every  scene  was 
daguerreotyped  on  his  mind,  thus  furnishing  him 
with  matter  for  appropriate  and  exhaustless  illus- 
trations. To  this  was  added  vast  copiousness 
of  language,  which,  if  seen  on  the  written  page, 
sometimes  tended  to  diffuseness  ;  yet  when  uttered 
by  the  living  voice,  and  rendered  vital  by  his  won- 
derful modulation,  it  seemed  merely  to  delay  the 
progress  of  the  thought,  until  every  conception 
had  time  to  sink  with  its  full  weight  into  the  very 
soul  of  his  auditors.  Such  gifts  as  these,  bestowed 
in  such  abundance,  would  have  placed  any  man 
at  once  in  the  first  rank  of  orators.  But  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  that  his  whole  soul  was  pene- 
trated with  the  most  solemn  and  affecting  truths 
of  Revelation.  He  saw  in  his  hearers  a  company 
of  men,  sinners  against  God,  surrendered  to  the 
cares  and  vices  of  the  present  world,  at  enmity 
with  God,  and  at  the  present  moment  under  the 
condemnation  of  his  holy  law.  The  Son  of  God 
had  become  incarnate  to  jihey-ihelaw  which  we 
had  broken,  and  to  bear  our  sins  in  his  own  body 


48  memoir  of  dr.  chalmers. 

on  the  tree  ;  and  even  now  he  was  offering  mercy 
to  sinners  for  whom  he  had  purchased  pardon 
and  peace  with  an  offended  God.  He  came  be- 
fore men  as  the  messenger  of  that  God,  as  the 
ambassador  of  that  Saviour.  With  almost  un- 
controllable emotion,  he  proclaimed  the  love  of 
God,  and  besought  men  to  be  reconciled  to  him. 
All  the  powers  of  the  most  wonderful  eloquence 
here  found  an  occasion  for  their  fullest  exercise. 
Whether  he  spoke  to  the  profligates  of  Westport, 
the  merchants  of  Glasgow,  or  the  elite  of  London, 
he  never  failed  to  cany  the  audience  with  him  in 
rapt  admiration.  In  the  General  Assembly,  in 
the  sacred  desk  or  on  the  platform,  it  was  all  the 
same, — thousands  thronged  to  hear  him ;  and  at  his 
voice  the  whole  assembly  was  swayed,  as  when  the 
trees  of  the  forest  are  moved  by  a  rushing,  mighty 
wind. 

I  think  it  will  not  be  uninteresting  to  recall  a  few 
instances  of  the  impression  which  he  produced 
upon  hearers  who  were  perfectly  competent  to 
form  a  correct  judgment  on  this  subject.  For  this 
purpose,  I  will  transcribe  a  few  of  those  reminis- 
cences which  seem  to  me  most  worthy  of  notice. 

Dr.  Chalmers  preached  his  first  sermon  in  Glas- 
gow after  his  call  to  the  Tron  Church,  and  before 
he  had  been  formally  inaugurated  as  pastor.  The 
public  interest  was  intense.  Among  the  hearers 
was   Mr.  Lockhart,  afterwards  son-in-law  to   Sir 


DR.    CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  49 

Walter  Scott,  and  editor  of  the  Quarterly  Review. 
Prom  his  description  of  the  preacher,  the  follow- 
ing is  an  extract :  — 

"  His  voice  is  neither  strong  nor  melodious ; 
his  gestures  are  neither  easy  nor  graceful,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  extremely  rude  and  awkward ;  his 
pronunciation  is  not  only  broadly  national,  but 
broadly  provincial,  distorting  almost  every  word 
he  utters  into  some  barbarous  novelty,  which,  had 
his  hearers  leisure  to  think  of  such  things,  might 
be  productive  of  an  effect  at  once  ludicrous  and 
offensive  in  the  highest  degree.  But  of  a  truth 
these  are  things  which  no  listener  can  attend  to 
while  this  great  preacher  stands  before  him,  armed 
with  all  the  weapons  of  the  most  commanding 
eloquence,  and  swaying  all  around  him  with  its 
imperial  rule.  At  first  indeed  there  is  nothing  to 
make  one  suspect  what  riches  are  in  store.  He 
commences  in  a  low,  drawling  key,  which  has  not 
even  the  merit  of  being  solemn,  and  advances  from 
sentence  to  sentence,  and  from  paragraph  to  para- 
graph, while  you  seek  in  vain  to  catch  a  single 
echo  that  gives  promise  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
There  is,  on  the  contrary,  an  appearance  of  con- 
straint upon  him,  that  affects  and  distresses  you. 
You  are  afraid  that  his  breast  is  weak,  and  that 
even  the  slight  effort  he  makes  may  be  too  much 
for  it.  But  then  with  what  tenfold  richness 
does    this    dim    preliminary    curtain    make    the 


50  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

glories  of  his  eloquence  shine  forth,  when  the 
heated  spirit  at  length  shakes  from  it  its  chill  con- 
fining fetters,  and  bursts  out  elate  and  rejoicing 
in  the  full  splendor  of  its  disimprisoned  wings. 
I  have  heard  many  men  deliver  sermons  far  more 
uniform  in  elegance,  both  of  conception  and  of 
style,  but  most  unquestionably  I  have  never  heard, 
either  in  England  or  Scotland,  or  in  any  other 
country,  any  preacher  whose  eloquence  is  capa- 
ble of  producing  an  effect  as  strong  and  irresist- 
ible as  his." 

Dr.  Chalmers,  in  the  year  1816,  took  an  active 
part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly. 
After  hearing  one  of  his  speeches,  Mr.  Jeffrey, 
the  first  critic  of  his  time,  remarked,  "  I  know 
not  what  it  is,  but  there  is  something  remarkable 
about  that  man ;  it  reminds  me  more  of  what 
one  reads  of  the  effect  of  the  eloquence  of  Demos- 
thenes, than  anything  I  ever  heard." 

Shortly  after  he  was  appointed  to  preach  be- 
fore the  Lord  High  Commissioner.  Long  before 
the  hour  of  service,  a  multitude  larger  than  any 
church  could  contain  was  gathered  in  front  of  the 
High  Church,  and  when  the  doors  were  opened 
the  rush  was  terrific.  It  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  Commissioner,  the  judges,  and 
'  magistrates  reached  their  allotted  seats.  During 
the  service,  the  attention  of  the  audience  was  so 
upon  the  stretch,  that  when  the  preacher  made  a 


DR.    CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  51 

pause,  at  the  conclusion  of  an  argument,  a  sort  of 
sigh,  as  if  for  breath,  was  perceptible  through  the 
house.  At  the  end  of  a  particular  passage,  says 
one  who  was  present,  there  ran  through  the  con- 
gregation a  suppressed  but  perfectly  audible  mur- 
mur of  applause,  —  an  occurrence  hitherto  unpre- 
cedented in  the  course  of  the  delivery  of  a  sermon, 
but  irresistible  in  order  to  relievo  our  highly 
excited  feelings. 

In  the  year  1816,  the  astronomical  discourses 
were  delivered  at  the  Thursday  lecture,  a  service 
sustained  by  the  ministers  of  the  established  church 
in  Glasgow.  When  Dr.  Chalmers's  turn  occurred, 
it  is  said  the  spectacle  that  presented  itself  was 
remarkable.  Long  before  the  bell  began  to  toll,  a 
stream  of  people  might  have  been  seen  pouring 
through  the  passages  that  led  to  the  Tron  Church. 
Across  the  street  was  the  old  reading-room,  where 
all  the  Glasgow  merchants  met.  As  soon  as  the  ac- 
customed warning  was  given,  out  flowed  the  occu- 
pants of  the  coffee-room ;  the  pages  of  the  Herald 
and  Courier  were  for  a  while  forsaken,  and,  dur- 
ing two  of  the  busiest  hours  of  the  day,  the  old 
reading-room  wore  a  strange  aspect  of  desolation. 
The  busiest  merchants  of  the  city  were  wont  upon 
these  memorable  days  to  leave  their  desks,  and 
kind  merchants  allowed  their  clerks  and  appren- 
tices to  follow  their  example.  Out  of  the  very 
heart  of  the  great  tumult  of  business  an  hour  or 


52  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

two  stood  redeemed  for  the  highest  exercises  of 
the  Spirit.  Nor  did  the  interest  of  these  discour- 
ses cease  with  their  delivery.  They  were  printed, 
and  in  ten  weeks  6000  were  sold,  and  within  a 
ycar_20,000  were  in  circulation.  Our  wonder 
is  increased  By  the  knowledge  of  the  manner  in 
which  some  of  these  sormons  were  composed.  On 
a  journey,  after  the  exhaustion  of  Sunday's  labor, 
he  writes,  "  I  began  my  fourth  astronomical  ser- 
mon to-day."  And  in  a  small  pocket-book,  with 
borrowed  pen  and  ink,  in  strange  apartments, 
where  he  was  liable  every  moment  to  interruption, 
that  sermon  was  taken  up  and  carried  on  to  com- 
pletion. At  the  manse  of  Balmerino,  having  a 
couple  of  hours  to  spare  ;  at  the  manse  of  Kilmany, 
in  the  drawing-room,  with  all  the  excitement  of 
meeting,  after  a  year's  absence,  his  old  friends  ;  at 
the  manse  of  Logie,  where  by  accident  he  found  a 
vacant  hour,  paragraph  after  paragraph  was  penned 
of  a  composition,  which  bears  upon  it  as  much 
of  the  aspect  of  high  and  continuous  elaboration, 
as  almost  any  piece  of  writing  in  our  language. 

In  May,  1817,  he  visited  London,  to  deliver  the 
annual  sermon  before  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety. Although  the  service  did  not  commence 
until  eleven  o'clock,  at  seven  in  the  morning  the 
chapel  was  crowded  to  excess.  The  effect  on  the 
audience  was  described  as  unprecedented.  A  gen- 
tleman who  was  present  wrote    thus  concerning 


DR.    CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  53 

it  to  his  friends  in  Glasgow :  "  I  write  under  the 
nervousness  of  having  heard  and  witnessed  the 
most  astonishing  display  of  human  talent  that 
perhaps  ever  commanded  sight  or  hearing.  Dr. 
Chalmers  has  just  finished  the  discourse  before 
the  Missionary  Society.  All  my  expectations  were 
overwhelmed  in  the  triumph  of  it.  Nothing  from 
the  Tron  pulpit  ever  exceeded  it,  nor  did  he  ever 
more  arrest  and  wonder-work  his  auditors.  I  had 
a  full  view  of  the  whole  place.  The  carrying  for- 
ward of  mind  was  never  so  visible  to  me.  A  con- 
stant assent  of  the  head  from  the  whole  people 
accompanied  all  his  paragraphs,  and  the  breath- 
lessness  of  expectation  permitted  not  the  beating 
of  a  heart  to  agitate  the  stillness." 

He  preached  for  various  charities  several  times 
during  his  visit  to  the  metropolis,  and  everywhere 
with  similar  effect.  Among  his  hearers  were 
many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  London. 
Mr.  Wilberforce  thus  refers  to  him  in  his  diary 
at  this  time :  "  All  the  world  wild  about  Dr. 
Chalmers.  He  seems  truly  pious,  simple,  and  un- 
assuming. Monday,  25th.  Off  early  with  Can- 
ning, Huskinson,  and  Lord  Binning  to  the  Scotch 
Church,  London-Wall,  to  hear  Dr.  Chalmers.  Vast 
crowd  !  Robert  Smith,  Lords  Elgin,  Harrowby,  etc. 
I  was  surprised  to  see  how  greatly  Canning  was 
affected.  At  times  he  was  quite  melted  into  tears. 
He  is  reported  to  have  said,  that,  although  at  first 


54  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

he  felt  uneasy  in  consequence  of  Dr.  Chalmers's 
manner  and  accent,  yet  he  had  never  been  so  ar- 
rested by  any  oratory.  '  The  tartan,'  said  he, '  beats 
ns  all. '  " 

The  last  sermon  which  he  preached  was  per- 
haps the  most  impressive,  as  he  dealt  throughout 
on  truths  bearing  directly  on  the  individual  sal- 
vation of  his  hearers.  Wilberforce  writes  of  it, 
"  Chalmers  most  awful  on  the  carnal  and  spirit- 
ual man."  Says  a  writer  in  the  Morning  Chron- 
icle, "  Dr.  Chalmers's  sermon  on  the  degeneracy  of 
man  was  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  eloquence 
that  could  possibly  be  delivered  from  the  pulpit, 
and  displayed  the  most  profound  knowledge  of 
the  human  mind.  The  progress  of  vice,  its  fas- 
cinating allurements,  and  its  tendency  to  the  eter- 
nal ruin  of  its  votaries,  were  depicted  in  the  most 
glowing  colors.  The  discourse  was  concluded  by 
an  animated  and  most  powerful  address  to  the 
vicious  on  the  folly  and  absurdity  of  their  con- 
duct." 

Nearly  twenty  years  afterwards,  he  was  invited 
to  London  to  deliver  a  series  of  lectures  on  Church 
Establishments.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
the  first  lecture  was  delivered  to  a  select  audience 
in  the  Hanover  Square  Rooms,  on  Wednesday,  the 
25th  of  April.  It  was  remarked  by  a  leading 
journal,  "From  the  first  word  that  escaped  the 
lips  of  the  lecturer,  till  the  concluding  sentence 


DR.    CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  55 

died  away  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  audience, 
the  vivid  interest  was  sustained  with  a  deep  and 
unflagging  intensity. "  At  the  second  lecture  the 
seats  reserved  for  peers  and  members  of  Parlia- 
ment were  at  an  early  hour  crowded  to  overflow, 
and  so  difficult  was  it  to  pack  the  room  aright, 
that  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the 
time  fixed  for  opening,  the  lecturer  could  not  pro- 
ceed. The  third  lecture  witnessed  a  still  denser 
crowd,  composed  of  a  still  higher  grade,  and  mani- 
festing a  still  higher  enthusiasm.  At  the  fourth 
and  fifth  lectures  an  American  clergyman  was  pres- 
ent, who  tells  us,  "  The  hour  at  which  the  lecture 
was  to  commence  was  two  o'clock.  I  thought  it 
necessary  to  be  beforehand  in  order  to  procure  a 
seat.  When  I  arrived,  I  found  the  hall  so  perfectly 
crammed  that  at  first  it  seemed  impossible  to  gain 
admission  ;  but  by  dint  of  perseverance  I  pushed 
my  way  onward  through  the  dense  crowd,  till  I 
had  reached  nearly  the  centre  of  the  hall.  Though 
the  crowd  was  so  great,  it  was  very  obvious  that 
the  assembly  was  made  up  principally  of  persons 
in  the  higher  walks  of  life.  Dukes,  marquises, 
earls,  viscounts,  barons,  baronets,  bishops,  and 
members  of  Parliament,  were  to  be  seen  in  every 
direction.  After  some  considerable  delay  and 
impatient  waiting,  the  great  charmer  made  his 
entrance,  and  was  welcomed  with  clappings  and 
shouts  of  applause,   that   grew   more    and   more 


5S  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

intense  till  the  noise  became  almost  deafening. 
The  concluding  lecture  was  attended  by  nine  prel- 
ates of  the  Church  of  England.  The  tide  that 
had  been  rising  and  swelling  each  succeeding  day, 
now  burst  all  bounds.  Carried  away  by  the  im- 
passioned utterance  of  the  speaker,  long  ere  the 
close  of  some  of  his  finest  passages  was  reached, 
the  voice  of  the  lecturer  was  drowned  in  applause, 
the  audience  rising  from  their  seats,  waving  their 
hats  above  their  heads,  and  breaking  out  into 
tumultuous  approbation.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  enthusiasm  that  prevailed  in  London.  The 
great  city  seemed  stirred  to  its  very  depths.  Trie 
Doctor  sat  behind  a  small  table  while  delivering 
his  lectures,  the  hall  in  front  being  densely  crowd- 
ed with  one  of  the  most  brilliant  audiences  that 
ever  assembled  in  Great  Britain.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  at  least  five  hundred  of  those  present 
were  peers  and  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  sitting  attitude  of  Dr.  Chalmers 
seemed  at  first  irreconcilable  with  much  energy 
or  effect.  Such  an  anticipation  was  at  once  dis- 
pelled by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  speaker,  responded 
to  if  possible  by  the  still  more  intense  enthusi- 
asm of  the  audience.  Occasionally  the  effect  was 
even  greatly  increased  by  the  eloquent  man  spring- 
ing unconsciously  to  his  feet,  and  delivering  with 
overwhelming  power  the  more  magnificent  pas- 
sages ;  a  movement  which  once  at  least  was  imi- 


DR.   CHALMERS  AT  GLASGOW.  57 

tated  by  the  entire  audience,  —  when  the  words 
4  The  king  cannot,  the  king  dare  not,'  were  ut- 
tered in  accents  of  prophetic  vehemence,  that 
must  still  ring  in  the  ears  of  all  who  heard  them, 
and  were  responded  to  by  a  whirlwind  of  enthu- 
siasm which  was  probably  never  exceeded  in  the 
history  of  eloquence.  Nothing  was  more  strik- 
ing, however,  amidst  all  this  excitement,  than  the 
childlike  humility  of  the  great  man  himself.  All 
this  flattery  seemed  to  produce  no  effect  what- 
ever on  him ;  his  mind  was  entirely  absorbed  in 
his  great  object ;  and  the  same  kind,  playful,  and 
truly  Christian  spirit,  that  so  endeared  him  to  us 
all,  was  everywhere  apparent  in  his  conduct." 

We  might  give  many  other  incidents  illustrative 
of  Dr.  Chalmers's  remarkable  eloquence,  but  our 
limits  forbid. 

It  will  naturally  be  asked,  What  effect  did  this 
unprecedented  popularity  produce  upon  the  mind 
of  Dr.  Chalmers  ?  In  answer  to  this  question  we 
would  remark,  that  his  journals  everywhere  ex- 
hibit the  most  earnest  strivings  of  his  soul  after 
perfect  victory  over  vanity  and  the  love  of  human 
applause.  ,A11  who  knew  him  bear  witness  that 
he  everywhere  displayed  in  a  remarkable  degree 
those  graces  of  simplicity,  humility,  and  childlike 
benevolence  which  specially  become  a  disciple  of 
Christ.  He  was  evidently  more  deeply  moved 
at  learning  that  his  ministrations  had  been  blessed 


58  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

to  the  conversion  of  a  soul,  than  by  the  rapturous 
applause  elicited  by  the  most  successful  of  his 
public  addresses.  No  man  esteemed  more  truly 
the  vanity  of  the  praise  of  man.  During  his  Glas- 
gow ministry,  while  urging  his  Sabbath-school 
agency  to  increased  activity  in  the  home-walk  of 
private  benevolence,  in  which  they  could  earn,  if 
not  a  proud,  at  least  a  peaceful  popularity,  —  the 
popularity  of  the  heart,  the  only  popularity  that 
is  worth  aspiring  after ;  the  popularity  that  is  won 
in  the  bosom  of  families  and  at  the  side  of  death- 
beds,—  he  added,  "There  is  another,  and  a  far- 
sounding  popularity,  which  is  indeed  a  most  worth- 
less article,  felt  by  all  who  have  it  most  to  be  far 
more  oppressive  than  gratifying;  a  popularity  of 
stare  and  pressure  and  animal  heat,  and  a  whole 
tribe  of  other  annoyances  which  it  brings  around 
the  person  of  its  unfortunate  victim  ;  a  popular- 
ity which  rifles  home  of  its  sweets,  and,  by  elevat- 
ing man  above  his  fellows,  places  him  in  a  region 
of  desolation,  where  the  intimacies  of  human  fel- 
lowship are  unfelt,  and  where  he  stands  a  con- 
spicuous mark  for  the  shafts  of  malice,  envy,  and 
detraction ;  a  popularity  which,  with  its  head 
among  storms  and  its  feet  on  the  treacherous 
quicksands,  has  nothing  to  lull  the  agonies  of 
its  tottering  existence  but  the  hosannas  of  a 
drivelling  generation." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PAROCHIAL  LABORS  IN  THE  TRON  CHURCH. 

T  might,  perhaps,  be  supposed  that  so  abun 
dant  popularity  in  the  pulpit  would  have 
satisfied  all  the  desires  of  a  minister,  and 
that  his  whole  efforts  would  have  been  di- 
rected to  the  work  of  making  it  permanent, 
or,  what  is  better,  to  rendering  it  more  practically 
efficacious  upon  the  hearts  of  his  congregation. 
But  it  was  far  otherwise  with  Dr.  Chalmers.  In 
order  to  understand  his  views  of  the  duty  of  a 
minister,  and  the  effect  of  these  views  upon  his 
conduct,  it  will  be  necessary  to  explain  briefly 
the  truths  by  which  he  was  governed. 

Immediately  after  the  change  in  his  religious 
experiences,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  he  enter- 
tained the  most  confident  belief  of  the  inherent 
efficacy  of  the  gospel.  It  had  been  in  his  case, 
as  in  that  of  the  apostle  Paul,  the  poiver  of  God 
unto  salvation.  He  had  felt  it  to  be  such; 
and  he  wished,  first  of  all,  to  be  the  means, 
through  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  of 
rendering  it  such  to  others.  He  had,  after  his 
manner,  with  earnestness  preached  to  his  people 

59 


60  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

at  Kilrnany,  and  spent  about  a  fortnight  once  a 
year  in  visiting  them.  The  result  was,  that  but 
few  came  to  his  ministry,  and  those  few  were  care- 
less and  inattentive.  But  when  he  received  the 
gospel  with  his  whole  heart,  and  became  a  new 
creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  this  manner  of  perform- 
ing the  duty  of  an  ambassador  of  Christ  did  not 
satisfy  him.  He  preached  a  different  gospel.  But 
this  was  not  enough.  Instead  of  spending  two 
weeks. in  the  year  in  visiting  his  people,  he  now 
devoted  to  it  a  portion  of  every  day.  He  became 
deeply  convinced  that  it  was  not  enough  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  pulpit,  it  must  be  carried  to 
those  who  did  not  come  to  hear  it.  He  felt  con- 
strained to  go  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and 
compel  them  to  come  in.  The  effect  was  at  once 
apparent.  His  church  was  soon  filled,  and  he 
saw,  what  he  did  not  see  before,  a  great  change 
produced  in  the  moral  and  religious  character 
of  his  hearers.  Souls  were  converted.  The 
parish  began  to  exhibit  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit. 
Nor  was  this  all.  He  established  what  now 
would  be  called  a  Bible  class,  for  his  young  peo- 
ple, which  was  so  greatly  blessed,  that  in  after 
time  he  could  say  that  he  looked  back  upon  this 
as  one  of  the  most  useful  of  all  his  labors  in 
Kilmany. 

Deeply  impressed  with  the  results  of  this  expe- 
rience, he   came   to   Glasgow.     His   opinion  was 


LABORS    IN    THE    TRON    CnURCU.  61 

fixed  that  the  means  used  at  Kilmany  would,  if 
faithfully  pursued,  produce  similar  effects  here. 
But  he  alone  could  not  act  upon  the  whole  city. 
He  had  no  such  idea.  He  believed,  however, 
that,  confining  his  labors  to  his  own  parish,  the 
same  gospel  would  as  truly  be  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  in  one  place  as  another.  He  was 
immovably  convinced  of  the  perfect  practicability 
of  assimilating  the  worst  conditioned  town  to  the 
best  conditioned  country  parish.  At  that  time, 
the  Tron  Church  parish  was  believed  to  contain 
between  eleven  and  twelve  thousand  souls.  To 
visit  every  family  of  such  a  population  was  a 
Jrlerculean  task ;  yet  Dr.  Chalmers  resolved  to 
accomplish  it.  He  first  of  all  wished  to  know 
from  personal  observation  the  condition  of  the 
people  that  had  been  committed  to  his  charge. 
To  hold  religious  services  in  every  house  would 
have  been  impossible.  At  first,  therefore,  his  visits 
were  generally  short.  He  only  asked  a  few  ques- 
tions regarding  the  state  of  the  family  as  to  edu- 
cation, church  attendance,  etc.,  made  a  few  kind- 
ly observations,  and  passed  to  the  next  house, 
leaving  it  for  the  elder  who  attended  him  to  an- 
nounce the  discourse  which  would  be  delivered 
for  the  benefit  of  the  neighborhood,  on  a  week- 
day evening,  in  some  school-house,  or  other  con- 
venient place  in  the  vicinity.  The  work  was  hard ; 
the  wynds  were  often  close  and  filthy ;   the  stairs 


G2  ME MO IE    OF  BE.    CnAEMEES. 

were  narrow  and  steep ;  the  houses  were  vile  and 
ill-ventilated ;  yet  cheerfully  and  resolutely  did 
he  carry  it  through,  cheering  ever  and  anon  the 
flagging  spirits  of  his  companion  as  he  went  along. 
Writing  to  a  friend  in  February,  181G,  he  says, 
"  I  have  commenced  the  stupendous  work  lately, 
the  visitation  of  my  parish.  A  very  great  propor- 
tion of  the  people  have  no  seats  in  any  place  of 
worship  whatever ;  and  a  very  deep  and  universal 
ignorance,  on  the  high  matters  of  faith  and  eter- 
nity, obtains  over  the  whole  extent  of  a  mighty 
population."  While  this  laborious  visitation  was 
going  on  throughout  the  week,  at  the  same  time 
the  demands  of  the  Tron  Church  pulpit,  and  of, 
the  thousands  now  crowding  around  it,  had  to  be 
satisfied  every  returning  Sabbath. 

This .  was  certainly  sufficient  to  task  the  ener- 
gies of  any  man,  however  gifted,  laborious,  and 
persevering.  In  addition  to  all  this,  Dr.  Chalmers 
was  called  to  endure  an  annoyance,  the  extent 
of  which  he  had  hardly  anticipated.  The  Tron 
Church  was  one  of  the  oldest  in  Glasgow ;  and 
its  minister  was,  from  his  office,  a  member  of  the 
committees  which  controlled  the  charitable  and 
many  of  the  municipal  expenses  of  the  city.  As 
instances  in  which  his  time  was  thus  wasted,  he 
relates,  that  once  he  was  obliged  to  sit  an  hour  to 
hear  a  deliberation  on  the  question,  whether  a 
gutter  should  be  shut  or  left  open.     Soon  after- 


LABORS  IN  THE  TRON  CHURCH.  G3 

wards  some  of  the  gravest  of  the  city  ministers 
and  some  of  the  wisest  city  merchants  were  sum- 
moned to  the  conclave,  when  the  weighty  and 
perplexing  question  was  propounded,  whether 
pork  broth  or  ox-head  broth  should  be  served  to 
the  inmates  of  the  hospital.  Opinions  differed  ; 
the  debate  waxed  long  and  warm,  and  after  some 
hours  of  discussion  it  was  resolved  that  henceforth 
there  should  be  served  sometimes  one  kind  of 
broth  and  sometimes  the  other.  But  this  was 
not  all,  nor  the  worst  part  of  it.  He  found  that 
when  he  visited  the  poor,  —  and  it  was  known  of 
course  that  he  was  one  of  the  distributors  of  the 
city  charity,  —  he  was  received  everywhere  with 
bland  kindness,  always  terminating  in  a  petition 
for  charity.  This  greatly  diminished  his  religious 
influence.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  free  him- 
self from  the  whole  of  it,  and  he  did  so.  He  then 
made  the  people  to  understand  that  he  only  dealt 
in  one  article,  that  of  Christian  instruction ;  and 
that  if  they  chose  to  receive  him  on  this  footing, 
he  would  be  glad  to  visit  them  occasionally.  "I 
can  vouch  for  it,"  said  he,  "  that  the  cordiality 
of  the  people  was  not  only  enhanced,  but  very 
much  refined  in  its  principles,  after  this  became 
the  general  understanding ;  that  of  ten  thousand 
entries  which  I  have  made  at  different  times  into 
the  houses  of  the  poor  in  Glasgow,  I  cannot  rec- 
ollect half  a  dozen  instances  in  which  I  was  not 
received  with  welcome." 


64  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

His  visitation  of  the  parish,  however,  convinced 
him  that  if  these  swarming  multitudes  were  to 
be  reclaimed,  who,  hidden  from  the  public  eye, 
were  living  in  ignorance  and  guilt,  and  dying  in 
darkness,  a  large  band  of  fellow-laborers  must  go 
down  with  him  and  enter  upon  the  spiritual  cul- 
tivation of  the  neglected  territory.  As  yet  it  ap- 
peared that  but  little  could  be  expected  from  the 
regular  office-bearers  of  the  church.  In  truth, 
parochial  influence  was  a  mere  name,  it  was  not 
even  understood.  Some  of  the  elders  of  the  Tron 
Church  were  excellent  men,  but  their  chief  duty 
was  to  stand  at  the  plate,  receive  the  free-will 
offerings  of  the  congregation  as  they  entered,  and 
distribute  them  to  the  poor,  by  a  monthly  allow- 
ance. In  this  respect  they  too  much  resembled, 
if  they  did  not  exceed,  many  of  the  office-bearers 
of  our  churches  at  the  present  day  in  this  coun- 
try. Their  spiritual  duties  and  exertions  were 
but  small,  and  mostly  confined  to  afeiv  of  the  sick. 
The  first  step  in  this  Christian  labor  was  to  ordain 
as  elders  some  young  and  less  prejudiced  men, 
who  might  be  more  efficient  coadjutors.  On  these 
he  relied  as  his  assistants  in  his  visits  among  the 
people. 

There  was,  however,  one  field  of  labor  on  which 
he  could  immediately  enter.  He  had  observed 
the  lamentable  extent  of  ignorance  among  the 
young  ;  very  few  of  the  children  among  the  low- 


LABORS  IN   THE   Tit  ON   CHURCH.  65 

est  class  of  the  community  being  in  attendance 
upon  Sabbath-evening  schools.  Convinced  that 
if  more  schools  were  opened  in  the  parish,  and 
means  taken  to  bring  out  the  children,  a  very 
large  increase  of  attendance  might  be  secured, 
he  invited  a  few  members  of  his  congregation  to 
form  themselves  into  a  society  for  this  purpose. 
At  the  first  meeting  of  this  society,  a  member 
reported  that  he  had  opened  the  first  of  the  pro- 
jected schools,  with  an  attendance  of  thirteen 
children.  The  schools  rapidly  multiplied,  the 
attendance  in  each  increased,  new  teachers  vol- 
unteered, and  at  the  end  of  two  years  it  was 
found  that  upwards  of  twelve  hundred  were  un- 
der regular  religious  instruction. 

The  teachers  of  these  schools  held  monthly 
meetings,  which  were  always  attended  by  Dr. 
Chalmers.  "  Our  meetings,"  says  one  of  the 
members  of  the  association,  "were  delightful. 
I  never  saw  any  set  of  men  who  were  so  animated 
by  one  spirit,  and  whose  zeal  was  so  steadily  sus- 
tained. The  Doctor  was  the  life  of  the  whole. 
There  was  no  assuming  of  superiority,  no  appear- 
ance of  the  minister  directing  everything;  every 
one  was  free  to  make  remarks  or  suggestions. 
Dr.  Chalmers  was  ever  the  most  ready  to  receive 
a  hint  or  a  suggestion  from  the  youngest  or 
least  experienced  member;  and  if  any  useful 
hint  came  from  such  a  one,  he  was  careful  to  give 

5 


66  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

him  the  full  merit   of  it.  calling  it  indeed  gen- 
erally by  bis  name." 

This  success  would  have  satisfied  any  ordinary 
man ;  but,  in  Dr.  Chalmers's  view,  nothing  was 
accomplished  while  anything  else  was  attainable. 
In  the  progress  of  the  work  he  was  led  to  make 
another  improvement.  These  teachers  all  labored 
in  the  parish  of  the  Tron  Church,  but  each  one 
gathered  scholars  from  the  whole  district,  or  from 
any  other  part  of  Glasgow.  Their  work,  though 
invaluable,  was  somewhat  undefined.  He  re- 
solved to  modify  it  in  so  far  as  to  apportion  a  par- 
ticular district  to  every  teacher.  He  divided  the 
parish  into  forty  sections,  allotting  thirty  or  forty 
houses  to  each  section.  Ho  appointed  a  local 
teacher  to  each  section,  and  told  each  of  them 
that  his  specific  business  was,  instead  of  taking 
children  from  all  parts  of  the  city,  and  those  that 
had  a  previous  inclination  to  attend,  to  go  forth 
within  the  limits  of  his  own  district,  and  visit 
every  family,  telling  them  that  he  had  a  Sabbath 
school  in  the  neighborhood,  and  requesting  parents 
to  send  their  children  to  it.  Instead  of  waiting 
for  them  to  come  to  him,  his  part  was  to  go  to 
them,  and  induce  the  parents  to  send  their  chil- 
Idren  to  the  school.  The  result  equalled  all  his 
expectations.  One  of  the  teachers,  Mr.  Higgie, 
had  one  or  two  closes  (alleys)  in  his  district ;  and 
there  was  not  a  single  family  who  did  not  send 


LABORS  IN   THE   TRON   CHURCH.  G7 

their  children  to  hiui  to  be  instructed.  He  had 
a  goodly  number,  of  thirty  or  forty  children,  in  his 
school.  What  was  true  of  his  district  was  true 
of  all  the  other  districts  in  the  Tron  parish.  By 
attaching  a  district  to  every  Sabbath  school,  and 
making  it  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  go  to 
the  children  to  get  them  to  attend  it,  in  place  of 
waiting  till  they  came  to  him,  instead  of  having 
an  attendance  of  little  more  than  one  hundred, 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  preaching  to  an  assem- 
blage of  not  less  than  one  thousand  and  two  hun- 
dred scholars.  It  did  not  satisfy  Dr.  Chalmers 
that  the  Tron  Church  was  filled  from  every  part 
of  Glasgow,  while  in  his  own  parish  there  were 
eight  or  ten  thousand  who  were  as  ignorant  of 
the  gospel  as  heathen.  These  were  the  means 
which  he  used  to  bring  to  these  neglected  and 
degraded  immortal  souls  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  And  the  seed  thus  sown  brought 
forth  fruit,  having  seed  within  itself.  On  I)r. 
Chalmers's  removal  to  St.  Johns  Church,  two 
years  subsequently,  four  of  the  teachers  of  this 
association  organized  themselves  into  a  separate 
society.  They  chose  as  the  field  of  their  opera- 
tions both  sides  of  the  Salt-market,  with  the  nu- 
merous lanes  that  branch  off  from  it,  containing 
a  population  of  3624  souls,  out  of  which,  when 
they  began  their  labors,  there  were  only  128  chil- 
dren attending  any  Sabbath  school.      Instead  of 


68  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

extending  their  operations  at  once  over  the  whole 
of  the  space,  each  appropriated  a  small  locality, 
exerting  all  his  influence  to  induce  others  to  come 
and  help  them.  In  six  months  their  numbers 
were  complete,  the  space  was  covered.  Twenty- 
six  schools  were  opened,  thirty-three  teachers,  in- 
cluding visitors,  were  engaged,  and  instead  of 
128  children,  732  were  in  attendance.  "  These 
schools,"  says  Dr.  Hume,  "  continue  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  there  have  flowed  from  this  small 
local  Sabbath-school  society  eight  other  societies 
in  different  parts  of  the  city  and  suburbs,  all  fair- 
ly traceable  to  the  impulse  given  in  the  Tron  par- 
ish, by  Dr.  Chalmers,  to  this  branch  of  parochial 
economy.', 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS. 

)N  the  midst  of  these  labors  at  the  Tron  Church, 
the  magistrates  and  counsel  of  Glasgow  had 
erected  a  new  church,  and  elected  Dr.  Chal- 
mers to  be  its  minister  while  yet  it  was  in 
course  of  completion.  The  new  church  was 
considerably  larger  than  the  Tron,  involving  of 
course  more  fatigue  to  the  preacher  who  should  oc- 
cupy its  pulpit.  The  parish  was  to  contain  a  popula- 
tion of  10,000  souls,  composed  almost  entirely  of 
operatives.  With  a  large  church  and  a  worse  pop- 
ulation, there  seemed  but  little  reason  why  Dr. 
Chalmers  should  prefer  St.  Johns  to  the  Tron, 
only  that  this  translation  promised  to  open  the 
,  way  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  favorite  project. 
With  .the  old  parishes  of  Glasgow,  the  magistrates 
and  council,  bound  either  by  law  or  precedent, 
could  not  do  as  they  pleased,  nor  had  any  of  the 
ministers  or  Kirk  Sessions  a  separate  and  inde- 
pendent parochial  authority.  It  was,  however, 
understood  that  the  official  authorities  were  pre- 
pared to  go  so  far  along  with  Dr.  Chalmers  as  to 
enable  him,  in  his  new  parish,  to  try  those  schemes 


TO  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

of  reformation  which  lie  was  known  to  have  so 
much  at  heart,  and  in  which,  by  the  new  duties  of 
his  position,  he  had  been  thus  actuated  in  the  Tron 
Church.  Some  delay  occurred  in  the  completion 
of  the  edifice,  and  it  was  not  until  the  31st  of 
March,  1819,  that  a  presentation  in  his  favor  to 
the  church  and  parish  of  St.  Johns,  accompanied 
by  his  letter  of  acceptance,  was  laid  on  the  table 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Glasgow  ;  and  on  the  3d  of 
June  he  was  formally  admitted  to  the  new  bene- 
fice. 

But  the  difficulties  of  the  settlement  were  not 
yet  adjusted.  Dr.  Chalmers's  views  were  large 
and  comprehensive.  He  was  free  to  carry  on  his 
Sabbath  schools  and  visitations  in  his  new  parish, 
but  this  was  not  enough.  He  found  that  of  the 
children  of  the  parish,  a  large  proportion  were 
unable  to  read,  the  parents,  in  many  cases,  living 
in  squalid  poverty,  relying  in  a  great  measure  on 
the  aid  of  the  funds  of  the  city,  destitute  of  self- 
respect,  and  preferring  a  life  of  pauperism  to  honor- 
able, independent  maintenance.  He  desired  to  raise 
the  whole  parish  to  the  condition  of  an  intelligent, 
self-reliant,  cleanly  population,  a  population  that 
should  take  its  place  with  the  most  respectable  in 
Glasgow ;  and  this  he  believed  might  be  done  by 
bringing  the  gospel  home  to  their  hearts,  by  teach- 
ing to  every  family  the  practical  duties  which  it 
enjoins,  and   exhibiting  in   daily  life  the    meek- 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOEXS.  71 

ness  and  love  which  belong  to  the  disciples  of 
Christ.  On  these'  means  he  had  the  most  confi- 
dent reliance ;  and  he  believed  them  adequate  to 
relieve  the  distresses  and  elevate  the  condition  of 
the  most  degraded  form  of  humanity.  But  he 
wished  to  be  allowed  to  perform  this  self-sacrific- 
ing labor  without  interference.  He  could  not 
obtain  even  this  privilege  without  much  anxious 
discussion.  At  length  what  he  required  was 
granted,  and  he  entered  upon  the  parish  of  St. 
Johns,  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  the  gospel 
upon  those  who  had  long  been  considered  as 
beyond  all  the  ordinary  means  of  reformation. 
"While  these  negotiations  were  in  progress,  he  was 
urged  to  allow  his  name  to  be  used  as  a  candidate 
for  the  professorship  of  natural  philosophy  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  then  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Professor  Playfair.  Into  these  negotiations  it 
is  not  necessary  for  us  to  enter.  It  is  sufficient 
for  us  to  remark,  that  if  the  arrangements  which 
he  thought  important  for  the  parish  of  St.  Johns 
could  be  made,  he  would  not  accept  of  the  pro- 
fessorship ;  if  these  failed,  he  would  go  to  Edin- 
burgh. 

Providentially,  the  difficulties  were  removed,  so 
far  at  least  as  to  allow  him  to  continue  his  work 
in  Glasgow.  He  entered  upon  the  charge  of  St. 
Johns  with  all  the  elastic  spirit  of  one  emanci- 
pated from  bondage,  and  with  all  the  hopeful  con- 


72  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

Science  of  one  whose  faith  in  the  power  of  moral 
and  spiritual  influences,  both  human  and  divine, 
over  the  very  worst  of  our  species,  was,  perhaps, 
larger  and  stronger  than  that  of  any  other  man  of 
his  generation. 

One  of  his  first  steps  was  to  take  a  census  of 
his  parish.  He  found  that  it  contained  a  popula- 
tion of  10,304  souls.  It  was  far  different  from  a 
country  parish.  It  had  degenerated,  and  needed 
to  be  reclaimed.  Of  the  2161  families  of  which 
it  was  composed,  846  families  had  no  seat  in  any 
place  of  worship,  and  even  this  proportion  gave  no 
idea  of  the  extent  to  which  the  public  worship  of 
God  had  been  relinquished.  The  number  of  sit- 
ters in  their  own  parish  church  scarcely  amounted 
to  a  hundredth  part  of  the  whole  population.  St. 
Johns  was  not  only  one  of  the  largest,  it  was 
the  very  poorest  parish  in  the  whole  city.  Weav- 
ers, laborers,  factory-workers,  and  other  opera- 
tives, made  up  the  bulk  of  the  population.  Such 
was  the  nature  of  the  people  whom  Dr.  Chal- 
mers hoped  to  elevate  to  the  high  level  of 
piety,  competence,  and  self-respect,  by  diffusing 
among  them  the  benefits  of  knowledge  and  the 
blessings  of  religion.  The  points  to  which  he  di- 
rected his  attention,  were,  in  general,  educational, 
religious,  and  economical. 

He  had  already  provided  himself  with  a  band 
of  forty-one  Sabbath-school  teachers,  whose  num.- 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  73 

ber,  however,  must  be  doubled  before  the  whole 
space  could  be  covered.  But  experience  had 
taught  him  that  something  else  was  necessary  than 
to  impart  religious  instruction  to  those  who  were 
unable  to  read.  Among  the  poorer  classes,  many 
children  were  growing  up  without  any,  and  still 
more  with  a  very  poor  and  comparatively  useless 
education.  Many  who  had  been  for  some  time  at 
school  could  do  no  more  than  blunder  through  a 
verse  of  the  Bible,  to  whom,  of  course,  it  was,  to  all 
practical  purposes,  really  a  sealed  book.  Much  of 
the  evil  Dr.  Chalmers  attributed  to  the  existing 
means  of  education.  He  saw  that  no  beneficial 
result  could  be  anticipated  until  proper  educa- 
tional means  were  provided ;  and  he  at  once  set 
himself  to  make  an  adequate  provision. 

On  Monday,  the  clay  after  the  church  of  St. 
Johns  was  opened,  at  a  meeting  of  a  few  members 
of  the  congregation  organized  into  an  education 
committee,  it  was  resolved  that  there  should,  in 
the  first  instance,  as  soon  as  possible,  be  raised  by 
subscription,  a  sum  of  money  deemed  adequate 
to  the  erection  of  one  fabric,  to  include  two  school- 
houses  and  two  teachers'  houses,  which,  when 
completed,  should  in  all  time  thereafter  be  exclu- 
sively occupied  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Johns.  Dr.  Chalmers  headed  the  sub- 
scription by  putting  his  name  down  for  £100,  five 
other  gentlemen  subscribing  each  a  like  sum  ;  and 


74  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

in  the  course  of  a  week  enough  had  been  pledged 
to  warrant  the  commencement  of  the  undertaking. 
Land  was  purchased,  the  buildings  were  erected, 
and  early  in  July,  1820,  were  ready  for  occupa- 
tion. Dr.  Chalmers  took  the  utmost  pains  to 
secure  for  these  schools  the  most  competent  and 
efficient  teachers.  A  portion  of  their  salary  was 
paid  from  the  fund  already  raised,  so  that  the 
fees  for  tuition  might  be  within  the  reach  of  the 
poorest  who  desired  to  avail  themselves  of  their 
benefits,  and  admission  was  restricted  to  the  pa- 
rishioners of  St.  Johns. 

It  was  soon  apparent  that  for  the  educational 
demands  of  the  parish  of  St.  Johns  alone  these 
two  schools  were  wholly  insufficient.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Educational  Committee  on  the  7th 
August,  Dr.  Chalmers  stated  that,  though  only 
opened  on  the  18th  of  July  last,  in  less  than  a 
month  the  schools  were  already  crowded  to  ex- 
cess ;  that  the  number  of  scholars  far  exceeded 
the  powers  of  the  teachers  to  do  justice  to  them, 
while  many  applicants  for  admission  had  been 
rejected.  He  proposed  the  erection  of  another 
fabric  in  the  eastern  district  of  the  parish.  The 
proposal  was  acceded  to,  the  second  building  was 
raised,  and  two  additional  masters  were  nominated. 
Within  two  years  from  the  commencement  of  his 
ministry,  four  efficient  teachers,  each  endowed 
with  a  salary  of  £25  per  annum,  were  educating 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  75 

419  scholars  ;  and  when  he  left  Glasgow  in  1823, 
other  buildings  were  in  process  of  erection,  capa- 
ble of  containing  374  additional  pupils ;  so  that, 
as  the  fruit  of  four  years'  labor,  he  was  leaving 
behind  him  the  means  for  giving,  at  a  very 
moderate  rate,  a  superior  education  to  no  less 
than  793  children  out  of  a  population  of  10,000 
souls. 

In  these  schools  he  took  the  liveliest  personal 
interest.  Said  one  of  the  teachers,  "His  visits 
to  my  school  were  almost  daily,  and  of  the  most 
friendly  description.  In  all  states  of  the  weather 
and  in  every  frame  of  mind,  he  was  there,  depos- 
iting himself  in  his  usual  chair,  his  countenance 
relaxing  into  its  wonted  smile  as  he  recognized 
the  children  of  the  working  classes.  Again  and 
again,  looking  round  upon  them,  his  eye  beaming 
with  tenderness,  he  has  exclaimed,  4 1  cannot  tell 
you  how  my  heart  warms  to  these  barefooted 
children.'  Sometimes  he  would  enter  the  school 
buoyant  and  congratulatory,  introducing  the  Bish- 
op of  — —  or  Lord  and  Lady ,  developing  to 

the  visitors  this  or  that  feature  of  his  parochial 
system,  and  generally  concluding  with  the  request, 
'Now  just  let  us  hear  one  class  read  a  portion 
before  we  go.'  He  never,  however,  once  inter- 
fered in  the  management  of  the  classes.  In  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  internal  management  of 
the  school,  I  was  allowed  to  take  my  own  method." 


76  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

But  it  formed  no  part  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  plan  to 
do  good  by  rendering  education  gratuitous.  He 
knew  that  the  best  way  of  benefiting  the  poor 
was  to  cultivate  their  self-respect,  by  teaching 
them  to  take  care  of  themselves.  At  the  opening 
of  the  first  of  the  St.  Johns  schools,  he  invited 
the  parishioners  to  a  meeting,  in  which  he  ex- 
plained to  them  the  plan  which  he  intended  to 
pursue.  The  following  extracts  will  illustrate 
the  course  of  his  remarks.  "  The  first  thing  I 
have  to  say  of  these  schools  is,  that  in  no  one 
sense  of  the  term  are  they  charity  schools.  The 
education  is  not  given,  it  is  paid  for.  It  is  not 
given  to  a  particular  number,  as  in  some  schools, 
where  so  many  poor  scholars  are  admitted  gratis, 
and  marked  out  by  this  distinction  from  the  rest 
of  their  fellows.  Each  scholar  comes  upon  the 
same  independent  footing.  There  is  nothing  to 
elevate  one  but  his  superior  scholarship,  there 
is  nothing  to  degrade  another  but  that  he  is  left 
behind  in  the  career  of  emulation. 

"The  next  thing  is,  that  although  the  fees  of 
attendance  are  moderate,  yet  we  do  not  want,  on 
that  account,  the  wealthiest  families  of  the  parish 
to  lie  off  from  the  benefits  of  this  institution.  We 
desire  quite  the  reverse  of  this.  We  recommend 
the  higher  classes  to  send  their  children  here,  not 
for  a  higher  fee,  but  on  the  common  fee  that  is 
paid  by  all.     The  peculiarity  of  these  schools  is, 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  77 

that  the  education  is  so  cheap  that  the  poor 
may  pay,  at  the  same  time  it  is  so  good  that  the 
rich  may  receive." 

He  then  alludes  to  the  objection  that  may  be 
raised  against  this  kind  of  schools.  The  first 
objection  is,  that  the  manners  and  morals  of  the 
rich  may  be  contaminated  by  such  an  intercourse 
as  he  proposes.  In  reply  to  this,  he  shows  that 
the  objection  is  in  fact  unfounded,  and  refers  to 
his  own  experience  to  establish  his  assertion. 
He  proceeds :  "  So  far  from  wishing  the  children 
of  the  various  ranks  in  this  parish  not  to  mingle 
in  these  schools,  we  wish  them  to  mingle  in 
them  as  extensively  as  they  may.  Let  vice,  and 
blackguardism,  and  every  communication  of  evil, 
be  guarded  against,  with  all  a  parent's  vigilance 
and  a  parent's  alarm  ;  but  disdain  not  to  associate 
your  children,  in  scholarship,  with  the  humblest 
offspring  of  poverty.  A  far  better  and  blander 
state  of  society  will  at  length  come  out  of  such 
an  arrangement.  The  ties  of  kindliness  will  be 
multiplied  between  the  wealthy  and  the  laboring 
classes  of  our  city,  the  wide  and  melancholy  gulf 
of  suspicion  between  them  will  be  filled  up,  by 
the  attentions  of  a  soft  and  pleasant  fellowship, 
and  the  extreme  parties  will  be  more  mellowed 
into  one  as  the  intercourse  of  advanced  life  is 
thus  softened  by  the  touching  remembrances  of 
boyhood." 


78        '  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CIIALMERS. 

Again,  it  was  objected  that  if  so  general  an 
invitation  were  thus  given,  the  schools  would  be 
filled  to  excess,  and  many  would  be  driven  away. 
"  Why,"  says  he,  "  brethren,  to  tell  you  the  truth, 
this  is  just  what  we  want.  The  louder  such  com- 
plaints are  made,  the  better.  We  want  the  de- 
mand for  such  education  as  we  are  endeavoring 
to  furnish,  to  be  as  great  as  possible ;  and  this 
will  induce  our  friends  to  manifest  their  wonted 
liberality,  until  every  want  is  supplied,  and  this 
whole  parish  furnished  with  means  to  reach,  in 
this  manner,  every  individual  of  our  district." 

But  for  what  purpose,  it  is  asked,  is  such  an 
education  provided  for  operatives  ?  Do  you  wish 
to  make  them  rich  men  and  capitalists  ?  He  an- 
swers, By  no  means.  A  few  of  them  may  rise  to 
eminence,  but  these  must  be  the  exceptions  ;  and 
we  therefore  set  no  such  inducements  before  them. 
What  then  is  your  object  ?  it  may  be  inquired. 
He  answers,  Not  to  turn  an  operative  into  a  cap- 
italist, but 'to  transform  an  ignorant  laborer  into 
an  intelligent  one ;  to  stamp  upon  him  the  worth 
and  respectability  of  which  I  contend  he  is  fully 
susceptible ;  though  he  rise  not  an  inch  above 
the  sphere  of  life  in  which  he  now  moves,  to 
transform  him  into  a  reflective  and  accomplished 
individual.  I  trust  the  time  is  coming  when 
humble  life  will  be  dignified  both  by  leisure  and 
literature  ;  when  the  work  of  the  day  will  be  sue- 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  79 

ceeclcd  by  the  reading  and  the  conversation  of 
the  evening ;  when  many  a  lettered  sago,  as  well 
as  many  an  enlightened  Christian,  will  be  met  with 
even  in  the  very  lowest  walks  of  society  ;  when 
the  elements  of  science,  and  philanthropy,  and 
high  scholarship,  will  so  ripen  throughout  the 
general  mind  of  the  country,  as  to  exalt  it  pro- 
digiously above  the  level  of  its  present  character 
and  acquirements.  Our  object  is  to  refine  alike 
and  dignify  every  condition  of  earthliness.  The 
object  of  diffusing  a  more  copious  and  rich  sup- 
ply of  education  among  the  operative  classes  is 
not  to  furnish  them  with  the  means  of  abandon- 
ing their  status,  but  to  give  them  facilities  for 
morally  and  intellectually  exalting  it.  It  is  not 
to  raise  them  on  the  artificial  scale  of  life,  but 
on  that  far  nobler  one  which  has  respect  to  the 
virtues  of  mind  and  the  prospects  of  immortality. 
It  is  to  confer  a  truer  dignity  upon  each  of  them 
than  if  the  crown  of  an  earthly  potentate  were 
bestowed  upon  him.  It  is  to  pour  the  stores  of 
knowledge  into  his  understanding,  and  more 
especially  of  that  sacred  knowledge,  by  the  pos- 
session of  which  he  becomes  rich  in  faith,  and  heir 
of  that  kingdom  which  God  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him. 

Such  were  the  arrangements  which  Dr.  Chal- 
mers originated  and  carried  forward  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  parish  of  St.  Johns.     "We  will  next 


80  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

consider  the  means  which  he  adopted  for  religious 
instruction. 

The  entire  parish  was  divided  into  twenty-five 
districts,  called  proportions,  each  embracing  from 
sixty  to  one  hundred  families.  Reviving  the 
ancient  order  of  deacons,  which,  in  the  Scottish 
Presbyterian  practice,  had  long  fallen  into  dis- 
use, Dr.  Chalmers  appointed  over  each  of  these 
districts  an  elder  and  a  deacon ;  the  spiritual  in- 
terests of  his  proportion  being  committed  to  the 
elder,  and  its  temporal  interests  to  the  deacon. 
In  each  district  one  or  more  Sabbath  schools  were 
established,  male  and  female  teachers  to  the  num- 
ber of  between  forty  and  fifty  being  engaged  in 
this  work,  while  a  few  classes  were  opened  for  the 
adult  population.  There  were  the  ordinary  meet- 
ings of  the  Kirk  session,  the  monthly  meetings 
of  the  deacons  and  of  the  Sabbath-school  teachers, 
monthly  meetings  in  the  church  for  missionary 
purposes,  and  frequent  meetings  of  the  Educa- 
tional Association,  all  of  which  Dr.  Chalmers 
regularly  and  punctually  attended.  He  was  him- 
self the  soul  and  spirit  of  almost  every  move- 
ment, but  there  was  no  desire  on  his  part  to 
dictate  and  no  assumption  of  superiority.  "  Our 
meetings,"  says  one  of  his  elders,  looking  back 
over  thirty  years,  "  were  very  delightful.  I  never 
saw  any  set  of  men  who  were  so  animated  by  one 
spirit,  and  whose  zeal  was  so  uniformly  sustained. 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOIIXS.  81 

The  Doctor  was  the  very  life  of  the  whole,  and 
every  one  felt  himself  led  on  by  him,  committed 
to  use  his  whole  strength  in  the  cause  of  that  good 
God  who  had  in  his  mercy  sent  us  such  a  leader." 
He  was  continually  receiving  reports  from  every 
quarter,  and  answering  by  notes  tending  to  quick- 
en and  animate  the  soul  of  every  laborer.  But 
this  was  not  enough.  Every  Monday  morning 
at  his  house  there  was  an  agency  breakfast,  to 
which  a  general  invitation  was  issued,  at  which 
from  six  to  eight  of  his  elders,  deacons,  or  Sab- 
bath-school teachers  were  present.  He  gave  also 
special  invitations  to  tea ;  so  that  most  of  his 
agents  visited  at  his  house  once  in  six  weeks. 

Nor  did  he  send  forth  these  agents  without  in- 
structing them  specially  in  the  nature  of  their 
work.  At  the  first  setting  apart  of  the  elders  in 
St.  Johns,  he  addressed  them  at  considerable 
length,  in  a  most  admirable  charge.  We  cannot 
insert  the  whole  of  it,  but  its  substance  was  much 
as  follows :  — 

He  begins  by  referring  to  the  importance  of 
their  position,  and  expresses  his  confident  belief, 
that  "  there  ivill  never  be  a  general  revival  of 
religion  until  Christians  at  home  go  forth  among 
the  heathen  families  around  them,  with  the  same 
enthusiasm  that  they  expect  from  missionaries  who 
go  abroad." 

He  tells  them  that  they  have  one  encouragement 


82  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

to  be  derived  from  the  character  of  the  people. 
They  will  everywhere  be  received  with  kindness 
and  courtesy.  They  must  not,  however,  be  de- 
ceived by  the  conventional  welcome  which  will 
greet  them.  This,  it  is  true,  will  open  the  door 
for  spiritual  effort,  but  they  must  not  be  disheart- 
ened if  they  find,  underneath  this  kindness  of 
exterior,  a  cleep-seated  and  obstinate  opposition  to 
the  truths  of  the  gospel.  They  must  not  take  it 
for  granted  that  nothing  can  be  done  for  the  souls 
of  adults,  and  that  all  their  labor  must  be  be- 
stowed upon  children.  It  was  not  so  in  apostolical 
times.  Then  the  word  of  God  was  powerful  to 
the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  They  must  take 
for  their  motto  the  saying  of  the  missionary  Elliot, 
who  wrote  on  the  last  page  of  his  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  an  Indian  language,  "  Prayers  and 
pains,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  will  accomplish 
anything."  And  lastly  he  guards  them  against 
the  impression  that  they  may  fully  confide  in  the 
perfection  of  their  arrangements  and  the  wisdom 
of  their  plans,  expecting  from  them  a  sure  and 
immediate  effect.  "  We  may  as  well,"  said  he, 
"  think  that  a  system  of  aqueducts  will  irrigate 
and  fertilize  a  country  without  rain,  as  that  any 
I  human  economy  will  Christianize  a  parish  with- 
•  out  the  living  waters  of  the  Spirit,  without  the 
dew  of  heaven  descending  upon  the  human  admin- 
istrators,   and    following    them    in    their   various 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  83 

movements  through  the  houses  and  families  un- 
der their  superintendence.  Still,  it  is  right  to 
have  such  arrangements  as  we  have  established, 
as  it  is  right  to  have  aqueducts ;  but  the  supply 
of  the  essential,  influence  cometh  from  above. 
God  will  put  to  shame  the  proud  confidence  of 
man  in  his  own  wisdom,  and  He  will  have  all  the 
glory  of  all  the  spiritual  good  that  is  done  in  the 
world,  and  your  piety  will,  therefore,  work  a  ten- 
fold mightier  effect  than  your  talents  in  the  work 
that  you  have  undertaken." 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Dr.  Chalmers 
satisfied  himself  with  simply  setting  his  people  at 
work.  Soon  after  his  settlement  at  St.  Johns  he 
obtained  the  services  of  Rev.  Edward  Irving,  after- 
ward so  celebrated,  as  his  assistant.  There  were 
three  services  at  St.  Johns  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
one  at  a  school-house  in  another  part  of  the  parish. 
These  services  they  shared  equally  between  them ; 
it  being  understood,  however,  that  the  evening 
service  at  St.  Johns  was  specially  intended  for  the 
residents  of  the  parish.  The  labors  of  household 
visitation  were  also  shared  between  Dr.  Chalmers 
and  his  assistant.  Dr.  C.  completed  his  round  of 
visitation  among  the  families  of  the  parish  in  two 
years.  His  manner  of  visiting  was  the  same  as 
before.  After  a  short  visit  to  the  family,  his  com- 
panion invited  them  all  to  attend  preaching  in  some 
school-house  or  private  house  or  other  convenient 


84  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

room  in  the  vicinity.  Much  greater  pains,  how- 
ever, were  now  taken,  by  himself  and  his  paro- 
chial agents,  to  secure  a  large  attendance  at  the 
evening  addresses,  by  which  these  forenoon  visita- 
tions were  followed  up.  The  success  justified  the 
effort.  Multitudes  who  otherwise  would  never 
have  had  the  offer  of  divine  mercy  addressed  to 
them,  were  brought  within  the  sound  of  the  preach- 
er's voice.  These  local,  week-day,  undress  congre- 
gations, assembled  in  a  cotton  mill  or  the  workshop 
of  a  mechanic,  or  the  kitchen  of  some  kind  and 
accommodating  neighbor,  with  their  picturesque 
exhibition  of  greasy  jackets  and  unwashed  coun- 
tenances and  hands  all  soiled  and  fresh  from  labor, 
turning  up  the  pages  of  unused  Bibles,  had  a 
special  charm  for  Dr.  Chalmers,  and,  all  alive  to 
the  peculiar  interest  and  urgency  of  such  oppor- 
tunities, he  stirred  up  every  gift  that  was  in  him, 
while  he  urged  upon  the  consciences  of  his  hear- 
ers the  high  claims  of  the  Christian  salvation. 
Many  ministers,  if  they  were  willing  at  all  to  ad- 
dress such  audiences,  would  satisfy  themselves  with 
giving  them  an  unpremeditated  exhortation,  which 
they  too  properly  would  speak  of  as  merely  a  talk. 
Dr.  Chalmers  did  not  so  look  upon  the  matter. 
He  knew  that  these  were  immortal  souls  for  whom 
Christ  died.  His  chosen  and  beloved  friend,  Mr. 
Collins,  who  often  accompanied  him  to  these  even- 
ing  meetings,  gave  his  reiterated   and  emphatic 


v  PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  85 

testimony,  that  no  bursts  of  that  oratory  which 
rolled  over  admiring  thousands  in  the  Tron 
Church  or  St.  Johns,  ever  equalled,  in  all  the 
highest  qualities  of  eloquence,  many  of  these 
premeditated  but  unwritten  addresses,  in  which, 
free  from  all  restraint,  and  intent  upon  the  one 
object  of  winning  souls  to  the  Saviour,  that  heart, 
which  glowed  with  such'  intense  desires  for  the 
present  and  eternal  welfare  of  the  working  classes, 
unbosomed  in  the  midst  of  them  all  the  fulness 
of  its  Christian  sympathies. 

In  the  year  1820  Mrs.  Chalmers  and  some  of 
the  family  were  with  his  mother  at  Anstruther. 
His  residence  being  at  some  distance  from  St. 
Johns,  he  took  rooms  within  the  bounds  of  the 
parish,  which  he  occupied  during  the  day,  in 
order  that  he  might  more  conveniently  see  and 
visit  his  people.  "  I  see  and  feel,"  said  he,  "  the 
mighty  charm  of  being  much  among  the  people 
in  the  capacity  of  next-door  neighbor." 

From  these  lodgings  he  writes  to  his  wife  the 
following  account  of  his  labors :  — "  As  it  is,  I 
spend  four  days  a  week  visiting  the  people,  in 
company  with  the  agents  of  the  various  districts 
over  which  I  expatiate.  I  last  week  overtook 
between  700  and  800  people,  and  had  great  pleas- 
ure in  the  movement.  This  I  am  usually  done 
with  in  the  forenoon,  and  then  dine  generally  in 
the  vestry,  or  at  a  friend's  house.     In  addition  to 


80  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

this,  I  have  had  an  agency  tea  every  night  except- 
ing yesternight,  and  in  a  few  evenings  more  I 
expect  to  overtake  the  whole  agency  of  the  parish. 
At  nine,  I  go  out  to  family  worship  in  some  house 
belonging  to  the  district  of  my  present  residence, 
where  I  assemble  the  people  of  the  land  or  close 
vicinity,  and  expect,  ere  I  quit  my  present  quar- 
ters, in  this  way  to  overtake  the  whole  of  this 
district.  I  furthermore  have  an  address  every 
Friday  night  to  the  people  of  my  vicinity,  in  the 
Colton  Lancasterian  school-room,  and  a  weekly  ad- 
dress will  be  necessary  for  each  of  the  four  weeks 
in  St.  Johns  Church  to  the  people  whom  I  have 
gone  over  in  regular  visitation.  Add  to  all  this 
the  missionary  monthly  meeting,  held  yesternight, 
and  you  will  find  that,  without  one  particle  of 
study,  I  am  in  full  occupation.  I  study  only  on 
Fridays  and  Saturdays,  and  am  happy  to  say  that 
the  stock  prepared  by  me  in  Kirkaldy  is  serving 
me  out  abundantly  in  my  pulpit  ministrations." 
The  reference  to  the  stock  of  sermons  prepared  at 
Kirkaldy  is,  I  presume,  to  sermons  written  at  that 
place.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  in  the  habit  of  seizing 
some  hours  of  every  day,  in  his  visits  from  home, 
in  writing  sermons  or  articles  for  the  press. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  he  labored  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  parish  of  St.  Johns.  It  did  not 
satisfy  him  that  thousands  attended  his  church  on 
the   Sabbath  day,  listening  in  rapt  admiration  to 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  87 

eloquence  such  as  nowhere  else  was  heard  in 
Christendom.  These  were  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  parish  of  St.  Johns.  By  far  the  greater  part 
were  ignorant  of  the  gospel,  and  had  never  heard 
of  the  way  of  salvation.  He  turned  to  these 
with  his  whole  heart,  he  entered  all  their  dwell- 
ings, he  gathered  them  in  school-houses,  factories, 
kitchens,  wherever  he  could  find  an  audience 
room,  he  engaged  Christians  to  aid  him  in  his 
work,  many  of  whom  were  his  own  children  in  the 
faith,  and  he  was  not  satisfied  until  the  darkest 
places  in  St.  Johns  parish  were  illuminated  with 
the  knowledge  of  salvation. 

But  before  we  close  our  account  of  his  labors  in 
Glasgow,  it  will  be  proper  to  recur  to  the  means 
which  he  employed,  or  rather  originated,  for  the 
economical  improvement  of  his  parish. 

In  order  to  aid  us  in  understanding  this  subject, 
it  will  be  necessary,  in  a  few  words,  to  explain  the 
municipal  arrangements  of  Glasgow  for  the  aid  of 
the  poor.  These  are  so  unlike  anything  we  have 
in  this  country,  that  very  possibly  I  may  commit 
errors  in  endeavoring  to  explain  to  others  what  I 
do  not  sufficiently  well  comprehend  myself. 

So  far  as  I  understand,  the  city  of  Glasgow  is 
divided  into  parishes,  as  our  cities  are  divided 
into  wards.  Over  these  parishes  the  magistrates 
of  the  city,  in  many  respects,  hold  jurisdiction. 
I  think  they  have  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  a  minis- 


88  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

ter.  Collections  for  the  poor  are  made  at  the 
church  door  twice  every  Sabbath  day.  These 
collections  are  paid  over  to  the  magistrates  from 
every  parish,  and  are  united  with  the  annual 
income  accruing  from  legacies  made  in  former 
times  by  benevolent  individuals  for  this  purpose, 
and  with  the  assessment  of  poor-rates  made  upon 
every  individual.  These  sums  are  then  divided 
by  the  authorities  among  the  several  parishes, 
and  distributed  by  the  officials  of  the  government 
to  the  poor  who  may  have  contrived  to  cause  their 
names  to  be  inserted  on  the  poor-roll.  There 
seems  to  be  nothing  left  to  the  parish  but  to  con- 
tribute the  money.  But  little  personal  examina- 
tion was  ever  made  by  the  officials  who  distrib- 
uted it.  There  was  no  intercourse  of  any  kind 
between  the  giver  and  the  receiver.  It  was,  for 
the  most  part,  simply  assessment  on  the  one  hand 
on  one  party,  and  official  distribution  to  the  other. 
In  this  way  no  kindly  feelings  would  be  enkindled 
between  the  parties.  What  was  received  by  the 
pauper  was  considered  as  his  right ;  and  it  tended 
directly  to  foster  indolence  and  vice,  and  to  wither 
every  sentiment  of  self-respect.  In  this  manner 
the  cost  of  the  poor  in  the  parish  of  St.  Johns 
alone  amounted  to  the  immense  sum  of  £1,400 
annually  ;  and  while  it  was  doing  nothing  to  di- 
minish, it  rather  increased  pauperism. 

Dr.  Chalmers  was  deeply  impressed  both  with 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOIINS.  89 

the  economical  and  moral  evils  of  this  system, 
and  with  the  help  of  God  he  hoped  to  remove  it. 
His  plan  was,  to  have  the  parish  of  St.  Johns  set 
off  by  itself;  to  have  all  the  Sabbath  collections 
committed  to  the  officers  of  the  church ;  to  relin- 
quish all  claim  on  the  fund  raised  by  assessment, 
and  then  to  support  all  the  poor  of  the  parish 
merely  by  its  own  benefactions.  The  magistrates 
consented  to  the  trial  of  the  experiment,  with 
the  almost  universal  belief  that  it  was  vain  and 
chimerical.  All  these  changes  could  not  of 
course  be  made  at  once.  This  was,  however, 
the  point  at  which  he  aimed,  and  what  in  fact 
he  ultimately  accomplished. 

The  annual  amount  received  from  church  col- 
lections was  £400  in  the  morning  and  afternoon 
services,  and  <£80  in  those  of  the  evening.  With 
this  sum  Dr.  Chalmers  undertook  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  pauperism  of  the  parish,  which 
had  previously  required  XI, 400. 

The  distribution  of  this  charity  was  committed 
to  the  deacons  of  the  church.  The  first  care  of 
Dr.  Chalmers  was,  to  instruct  them  particularly 
in  the  manner  of  discharging  their  office.  The 
directions  which  he  gave  them  were  minute  and 
precise.  He  says  to  them,  "  Whenever  any  one 
applies  through  the  deacon  for  admittance  upon 
our  funds,  the  first  thing  to  be  inquired  into  is, 
if  there  be  any  kind  of  work  that  he  can  do,  so 


90  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

as  to  keep  him  altogether  off,  or  as  to  make  a 
partial  allowance  serve  for  his  necessities ;  the 
second,  what  his  relatives  and  friends  are  willing 
to  do  for  him ;  the  third,  whether  he  is  a  hearer  in 
any  dissenting  place  of  worship,  and  whether  its 
session  will  contribute  to  his  relief.  If,  after  these 
previous  inquiries,  it  be  found  that  further  relief 
is  necessary,  then  there  must  be  a  strict  ascer- 
tainment of  his  term  of  residence  in  Glasgow,  and 
whether  he  rests  on  the  funds  of  the  Town  Hos- 
pital, or  is  obtaining  relief  from  any  other  parish. 
If,  upon  all  these  points  being  ascertained,  the 
deacon  thinks  him  to  be  an  object  for  our  assist- 
ance, he  will  inquire  whether  a  small,  temporary 
aid  will  meet  the  occasion,  and  state  this  at  the 
first  ordinary  meeting  of  the  deacons.  But  if, 
instead  of  this,  he  considers  him  a  fit  subject  for 
a  regular  allowance,  he  will  receive  the  assistance 
of  another  deacon  to  complete  and  confirm  his 
inquiries  by  the  next  ordinary  meeting  thereafter  ; 
at  which  time  the  applicant,  if  they  still  think  him 
a  fit  object,  is  brought  before  them,  and  received 
upon  the  fund  at  such  a  rate  of  allowance  as,  upon 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  meeting  of 
the  deacons  shall  think  proper.  Of  course,  pend- 
ing this  examination,  the  deacon  is  empowered 
to  grant  the  same  sort  of  discretionary  aid  as  is 
customary  in  other  parishes."  To  another  he 
writes,  "  Be  kind  and  courteous  to   the   people, 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  91 

while  firm  in  your  investigations  about  tlicm  ; 
and  just  in  proportion  to  the  care  with  which  you 
investigate,  will  be  the  rarity  of  the  applications 
that  are  made  to  you."  It  was  thus  soon  per- 
ceived that  the  very  last  thing  which  a  deacon 
would  allow  was,  that  any  family  should  be  charge- 
able on  the  parish  funds.  "  If  drunkenness  be  a 
habit  with  the  applicant,"  says  he,  "  this  in  itself 
is  an  evidence  of  means,  and  the  firmest  dis- 
couragement should  be  put  upon  every  application 
of  this  kind."  The  drunken  were  told  to  give  up 
their  drunkenness,  and  that  until  they  did  so 
their  case  would  not  even  be  considered.  The 
idle  were  told  to  set  instantly  to  work,  and  if  they 
complained  that  work  could  not  be  gotten,  by 
kindly  application  to  employers  they  were  helped 
to  obtain  it.  The  improvident  were  warned  that, 
if,  with  such  sources  of  income  as  they  had,  or 
might  have,  they  chose  to  squander  and  bring 
themselves  to  want,  they  must  just  bear  the  mis- 
ery of  their  own  procuring. 

Furnished  with  such  instructions,  and  stimu- 
lated by  the  letters  and  conversations  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, the  deacons  of  St.  Johns  commenced  their 
interesting  work.  This  was  at  first  both  deli- 
cate and  difficult.  The  people  had  been  led  to 
suppose  that  Dr.  Chalmers  had  invented  a  plan 
by  which  aid  was  to  be  more  freely  and  liberally 
bestowed.     This  misconception  was  soon  rectified. 


92  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

Nor  was  it  difficult  to  carry  the  mind  and  feeling  of 
the  community  in  favor  of  the  methods  proposed. 
To  acquire  a  proper  knowledge  of  the  character, 
habits,  and  means  of  every  applicant,  required  a 
considerable  expenditure  of  time,  and  the  exer- 
cise of  no  ordinary  patience,  firmness,  and  care- 
ful discrimination.  It  was,  however,  some  com- 
pensation to  know  that  the  work,  once  done,  did 
not  need  to  be  done  again ;  and  that  the  more 
thoroughly  it  was  done,  the  smaller  would  be 
the  number  of  the  applicants. 

Deceptions  in  great  numbers  had  been  practised 
under  the  former  methods  of  relief,  but  these  faded 
away  under  searching  investigation.  Some  of  the 
cases  were  such  as  these :  One  woman  who  had 
been  receiving  aid,  who  had  four  children  and 
one  in  arms,  and  whose  husband  was  said  to  be 
in  the  infirmary,  was  found  to  live  a  mile  out 
of  the  parish,  and  her  husband  was  an  indus- 
trious weaver.  She  was  a  drunkard.  Another 
woman,  in  tears,  applied  for  aid  to  bury  a  grown- 
up daughter,  who  had  died  that  day.  Upon  con- 
sulting with  another  deacon,  it  was  suggested 
that  she  might  be  the  same  whom  he  had  assisted 
to  bury  her  husband,  who  had  died  some  six 
months  before.  Upon  finding  the  family,  the 
buried  husband  and  dead  daughter  were  found 
performing  all  the  usual  functions  of  life.  Again, 
another  man  was  found  in  the  receipt  of  a  weekly 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  93 

allowance,  who  had  eight  workmen  under  him. 
By  personal  examination,  such  cases  were  dis- 
covered ;  and,  so  far  as  possible,  the  number  of 
persons  receiving  aid  was  limited  to  those  only 
who  really  needed  assistance. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Those  who  were  really 
needy  were,  by  kind  words  and  friendly  sugges- 
tions, encouraged  by  all  means  to  endeavor  to 
support  themselves,  and  thus  avoid  the  humilia- 
tion of  receiving  public  charity.  Such  efforts  were 
in  many  cases  successful.  Where  aid  was  really 
needed,  Dr.  Chalmers  found  a  new  source  of  relief 
by  awakening  the  sympathy  of  neighbors,  and  en- 
couraging them  to  assist  each  other.  It  is  remark- 
able to  observe  how  large  a  fountain  of  charity  was 
thus  opened,  and  its  streams  soon  gladdened  the 
poorest  parts  of  the  parish.  Not  only  was  aid  for 
the  suffering  thus  readily  and  promptly  extended, 
but  the  poor  at  once  rose  from  the  class  of  receivers 
into  that  of  benefactors,  and  were  thus  taught  the 
luxury  of  doing  good.  And  that  the  needy  were 
not  in  St.  Johns  parish  worse  provided  for  than 
those  in  other  parishes,  was  evident  from  the  fact, 
that  nearly  twice  as  many  persons  came  into  the 
parish  as  left  it. 

At  first,  this  work  was  laborious  and  time-con- 
suming. After  the  deceptive  cases  had  been  sift- 
ed out,  and  each  of  the  deacons  became  acquaint- 
ed with  his  district,  and  both  they  and'  the  appli- 


9-4  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CUALZIERS. 

cants  well  understood  the  principles  on  which  aid 
would  be  afforded,  the  labor  was  easy.  At  the 
last  it  appeared  that  the  time  occupied  by  the 
deacons  in  the  performance  of  their  duty  did  not 
average  more  than  three  or  four  hours  a  month. 
In  fact,  the  St.  Johns  deaconry,  mingling  as  it 
did  familiarly  with  all  the  families,  and  proving 
itself  by  word  and  deed  the  true  but  enlightened 
friend  of  all,  did  far  more  to  prevent  pauperism 
than  to  provide  for  it. 

The  results  of  this  noble  experiment  may  be 
easily  stated.  After  the  first  year,  the  church 
of  (  St.  Johns  assumed  the  whole  cost  of  pauper- 
ism in  the  parish,  and  this  cost  was  met  by  the 
Sabbath-day  contributions  at  the  door  of  the 
church.  It  was  all  accomplished  by  an  expend- 
iture of  £280  per  )rear,  without  any  cost  to  the 
city,  while  previously  it  had  required  the  sum 
of  £1,400.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  collections  in 
about  four  years  had  exceeded  the  expenditure  by 
£900  ;  and  of  this  excess,  £500  were  appropriated 
to  the  endowment  of  one  of  the  parochial  schools, 
to  which  we  have  previously  alluded.  Had  this 
plan  been  faithfully  carried  out  in  the  other  par- 
ishes of  Glasgow,  and  thus  the  whole  city  been 
subject  to  the  same  management,  the  annual  cost 
of  pauperism  there  would  have  been  reduced  from 
the  sum  of  £120,000  to  that  of  £12,000  per  year, 
and  an  unspeakable  blessing  would  have  resulted 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  J0IIATS.  95 

to  the  social,  moral,  and  religious  interests  of  the 
city. 

It  wns  by  many  supposed  that  all  this  was 
effected  by  the  personal  influence  of  a  single  in- 
dividual, and  that  at  his  removal  the  experiment, 
so  successful  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  would 
soon  prove  a  failure. 

In  speaking  on  the  subject  before  the  General 
Assembly,  in  1822,  Dr.  Chalmers  eloquently  said, 
"  Do  with  the  first  adventurer  as  you  will ;  order 
him  back  again  to  the  place  from  which  he  had 
departed ;  compel  his  bark  out  of  its  secure  and 
quiet  landing-place,  or  let  it  be  scuttled,  if  you  so 
choose,  and  sunk  to  the  bottom ;  still,  not  to  mag- 
nify our  doings,  but  to  illustrate  them,  we  must 
remind  you  that  the  discovery  survives  the  loss 
of  the  discovery  ship;  for,  if  discovery  it  must 
be  called,  the  discovery  has  been  made;  a  safe 
and  easy  navigation  has  been  found  from  the 
charity  of  the  law  to  the  charity  of  kindness; 
and  therefore,  be  it  now  reviled,  or  be  it  now 
disregarded  as  it  may,  we  have  no  doubt  on  our 
spirits,  whether  we  look  to  the  depraving  pauper- 
ism or  to  the  burdened  agriculture  of  our  land, 
that  the  days  are  coming  when  men,  looking  for 
a  way  of  escape  from  these  sore  evils,  will  be  glad 
to  own  our  enterprise,  and  be  fain  to  follow  it." 

But  it  was  not  left  to  theory  or  prediction  to 
settle   this    question.     The  Rev.  Dr.  Macfarlane 


96  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

succeeded  Dr.  Chalmers  in  the  incumbency  of 
St.  Johns,  and  he  has  left  the  following  testi- 
mony on  this  subject :  "  The  experience  of  six- 
teen months,  during  which  I  was  minister  of  St. 
Johns,  confirmed  the  favorable  opinion  which  I 
previously  entertained  of  the  system.  It  worked 
ivell  in  all  respects.  Yvrith  an  income  from 
collections  of  not  much  exceeding  £300,  we 
kept  down  the  pauperism  of  a  parish  containing 
a  population  of  10,000,  and  I  know,  from  actual 
observation,  that  the  poor  were  in  better  condition, 
and,  except  the  worthless  and  profligate  who  ap- 
plied and  were  refused  assistance,  were  more  con- 
tented and  happy  than  the  poor  in  the  other  par- 
ishes of  Glasgow.  I  was  also  agreeably  disap- 
pointed at  finding  that  Dr.  Chalmers  was  not  the 
only  person  having  sufficient  influence  to  obtain 
the  aid  of  the  respectable  members  of  the  congre- 
gation in  administering  the  affairs  of  the  poor; 
I  bad  not  the  smallest  difficulty  in  procuring  a 
sufficient  number  of  deacons  for  this  purpose." 

Ten  years  afterwards  Dr.  Chalmers  informed 
the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  that  the 
whole  cost  of  St.  Johns'  pauperism  had  for  the 
preceding  year  been  <£384,  or,  deducting  the  ex- 
pense for  deserted  children  and  lunatics,  which 
owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  had  come  to 
press  heavily  upon  the  parish,  it  was  £232. 

At  the  end  of  1833,  an  English  poor-law  (5om- 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  97 

missioner,  E.  C.  Tufnell,  Esq.,  visited  Glasgow,  and 
after  careful  inquiry  as  to  the  state  of  matters  at 
St.  Johns,  drew  up  a  report,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  an  extract:  — 

"  This  system  has  been  attended  with  the  most 
triumphant  success;  it  is  now  in  perfect  opera- 
tion, and  not  a  doubt  is  expressed  by  its  managers 
of  its  continuing  to  remain  so.  Its  chief  virtue 
seems  to  consist  in  the  closer  investigation  which 
each  new  case  of  pauperism  receives,  by  which 
meafs  the  parish  is  prevented  from  being  imposed 
upon,  and  as  it  is  well  known  by  the  poor  that  this 
severe  scrutiny  is  never  omitted,  attempts  at  impo- 
sition are  less  frequently  practised 

This  personal  attention  of  the  rich  to  the  poor 
seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  pre- 
venting pauperism.  It  is  a  subject  of  perpetual 
complaint  that  the  poor  do  not  receive  the  char- 
ities of  the  rich  with  gratitude.  The  reason  seems 
to  be,  that  the  donation  of  a  few  shillings  from  a 
rich  man  is  no  subtraction  from  the  giver's  com- 
forts, and  no  proof  of  his  interest  in  the  poor  man's 
welfare.  If  the  rich  give  their  time  to  the  poor, 
they  part  with  that  which  is  known  to  be  valuable 
to  the  giver,  and  the  poor  esteem  the  attention  the 
more,  as  it  implies  an  interest  in  their  prosperity, 
and  they  become  more  unwilling  to  press  upon  the 
kindness  of  those  who  sympathize  with  them  in 
their  distress  and  do  their  utmost  to  relieve  it. 

7 


/ 

98  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

This  feeling  acts  as  a  spur  on  the  emotions  of  the 
poor  ;  their  efforts  to  depend  on  their  own  resources 
are  greater,  and  consequently  the  chance  of  their 
becoming  dependent  on  the  bounty  of  others  less." 
Such  were  the  labors  which,  in  addition  to  the 
supply  of  the  pulpit  at  St.  Johns,  occupied  the 
attention  of  Dr.  Chalmers.  It  will  naturally  be 
supposed  that  his  unbounded  popularity,  his  ex- 
tensive acquirements,  his  genial  manners,  and  his 
great  conversational  powers,  would  give  him  a 
welcome  introduction  to  circles  of  the  highe^  re- 
finement in  Glasgow.  Such  was  the  fact.  There 
was  hardly  a  drawing-room  in  Scotland  that 
would  not  have  been  honored  by  his  presence. 
But  all  the  pleasure  which  this  might  have  af- 
forded him  he  cheerfully  relinquished,  and  spejit 
the  time  which  general  society  would  have  con- 
sumed, upon  the  lanes  and  closes  of  the  poor  and 
degraded  in  Glasgow.  He  did  this  from  a  delib- 
erate view  of  his  duty  as  a  minister.  In  his 
remarks  at  the  public  dinner  given  to  him  in 
Glasgow,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  that  has 
ever  been  given  to  a  private  individual,  he  refers 
to  this  subject  in  the  following  words :  "  The 
parish  that  was  assigned  to  me  as  the  field  of 
my  labors "  (a  field,  by  the  way,  which  he  had 
himself  chosen),  "introduced  me,  I  may  say,  both 
to  the  profit  and  the  luxury  of  many  acts  of  friend- 
ship with  the  poor,  and  I  have  had  but  rare  and 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  \  9 

occasional  intercourse  with  the  higher  classes  of 
society  in  Glasgow."  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  this  very  intercourse  with  the  poor  had, 
among  other  things,  been  the  occasion  of  the  mo^t 
signal  manifestations  of  respect  and  veneration 
and  cordial  attachment  that  any  private  individual 
had  ever  received  from  every  grade  of  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

We  have  seen  the  extent  of  Dr.  Chalmers's 
labors  among  the  poor.  It  may  be  asked,  Did 
not  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  rich  suffer  in  con- 
sequence ?  the  souls  of  the  rich  are  as  valuable 
as  those  of  the  poor,  and  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
may  not  innocently  neglect  one  class  of  his  parish- 
ioners for  the  sake  of  benefiting  the  other.  It 
will  be  a.  sufficient  answer  to  these  questions  to 
introduce  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Hanna,  in  which  he 
gives  a  brief  summary  of  the  results  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers's labors  as  a  preacher.  After  mentioning  a 
number  of  cases,  either  as  individuals  or  repre- 
sentatives of  classes,  to  whom  his  ministry,  through 
the  blessing  of  God,  had  been  eminently  blessed, 
he  adds  :  "  The  more  general  effects  of  his  minis- 
try in  its  bearings  upon  the  religious  condition  of 
Glasgow  and  of  Scotland  lie  open  enough  to  obser- 
vation. When  Dr.  Chalmers  came  to  Glasgow,  by 
the  great  body  of  the  upper  classes  of  society  evan- 
gelical doctrines  were  nauseated  and  despised; 
when  he  left  it,  even  by  those  who  did  not  bow  to 


100  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

their  influence,  these  doctrines  were  acknowledged 
to  be  indeed  the  very  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  When 
Dr.  Chalmers  came  to  Glasgow,  in  the  eye  of  the 
multitude  evangelism  stood  confounded  with  a  driv- 
elling sanctimoniousness  or  a  sour-minded  asceti- 
cism ;  when  he  left  it,  from  all  such  false  associa- 
tions the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament  stood 
clearly  and  nobly  redeemed.  When  Dr.  Chalmers 
came  to  Glasgow,  for  nearly  a  century  the  magis- 
trates and  the  town  council  had  exercised  the  city 
patronage  in  a  spirit  determinately  anti-evangeli- 
cal ;  when  he  left  it,  so  complete  was  the  revolution 
which  had  been  effected,  that  from  that  time  for- 
ward none  but  evangelical  clergymen  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  city  patrons.  When  Dr.  Chalmers 
came  to  Glasgow,  there  and  elsewhere  over  Scot- 
land there  were  many  most  devoted  clergymen  of 
the  Establishment  who  had  given  themselves  up 
wholly  to  the  ministry  of  the  word  and  to  prayer, 
but  there  was  not  one  in  whose  faith  and  practice 
week-day  ministrations  had  the  place  and  power 
which  he  assigned  to  them ;  when  he  left  it,  he 
had  exhibited  such  a  model  of  facility,  diligence, 
and  activity  in  all  the  departments  of  ministerial 
labor  as  told  finely  upon  the  spirit  and  practise  of 
the  whole  ministry  of  Scotland.  When  Dr.  Chal- 
mers came  to  Glasgow,  unnoticed  thousands  of 
the  city  population  were  sinking  into  ignorance, 
infidelity,  and  vice,  and  his  eye  was  the  first  in 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  101 

this  country  to  foresee  to  what  a  fearful  magni- 
tude that  evil,  if  suffered  to  grow  unrebuked, 
would  rise ;  when  he  left  it,  his  ministry  in  that 
city  remained  behind  him,  in  permanent  warning 
to  a  nation  that  had  been  slow  to  learn  that  the 
greatest  of  all  questions,  both  for  statesmen  and 
for  churchmen,  is  the  condition  of  those  untaught 
and  degraded  thousands  who  swarm  around  the 
base  of  the  social  edifice,  and  whose  brawny  arms 
may  yet  grasp  its  pillars,  to  shake  or  destroy. 
When  Dr.  Chalmers  came  to  Glasgow,  in  the  lit- 
erary circles  of  the  Scottish  metropolis  a  thinly- 
disguised  infidelity  sat  on  the  seats  of  greatest  influ- 
ence, and  smiled  and  scoffed  at  a  vital  and  ener- 
getic faith  in  the  great  and  distinctive  truths  of 
revelation,  while  widely  over  his  native  land  the 
spirit  of  a  frigid  indifference  to  religion  prevailed ; 
when  he  left  it,  the  current  of  public  sentiment 
had  begun  to  set  in  the  contrary  direction,  and 
although  it  took  many  years,  and  the  labor  of 
many  other  hands,  to  carry  that  healthful  change 
onward  to  maturity,  yet  I  believe  it  is  not  over- 
estimating it  to  say,  that  it  was  mainly  by  Dr. 
Chalmers's  ministry  in  Glasgow,  and  by  his  efforts 
in  the  pulpit  and  through  the  press,  that  the  na- 
tional opinion  and  sympathy  were  turned." 

It  was  at  the  very  time  that  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
occupying  this  unrivalled  field  of  usefulness,  that 
the  church  of  St.  Johns  was  startled  by  the  an- 


102  MEMOIR    OF    DR.    CHALMERS. 

nouncement  that  he  had  accepted  the  professor- 
ship of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  St. 
Andrews,  the  place  of  his  education.  The  uni- 
versity was  quite  remote,  its  funds  were  small,  its 
students  comparatively  few,  the  salary  of  the  pro- 
fessor was  meagre,  and  Dr.  Chalmers  had  already 
declined  six  invitations  to  lucrative  and  highly 
honorable  situations.  He  called  a  meeting  of  his 
elders,  deacons,  and  Sabbath-school  teachers,  and 
at  once  made  known  his  decision,  and  the  rea- 
sons of  it.  His  first  reason  was  the  failure  of  his 
health,  which  had  succumbed  under  the  extraor- 
dinary pressure  which  the  necessities  of  the  situ- 
ation laid  upon  him.  He  says,  "  My  very  last  at- 
tempt at  exertion  out-of-doors  has  been  followed 
up  by  several  weeks  of  utter  incapacity  for  fixed 
thought."  This  evident  indication  of  an  over- 
worked brain  was  certainly  a  very  impressive 
monition. 

The  second  reason  was,  that  if  it  were  possible 
to  relieve  him  of  his  duties,  he  could  not  with  a 
good  conscience  continue.  His  attention  had  of 
late  been  strongly  drawn  to  subjects  of  general 
philanthropy,  in  writing  upon  which  he  believed 
that  he  did  what  was  pleasing  to  God.  Should 
his  parochial  labors  be  diminished,  he  should  be 
obliged  to  devote  much  of  his  time  to  the  business 
of  authorship,  instead  of  giving  it  all  to  the  par- 
ish ;  and  thus  he  would  become,  not  in  form,  but 
in  fact,  a  pluralist. 


PAROCHIAL  LABORS  AT  ST.  JOHNS.  103 

By  removing  to  St.  Andrews  his  labors  and 
responsibilities  would  be  greatly  diminished ;  the 
long  vacation  would  give  him  ample  opportunity 
for  recreation,  the  retirement  of  the  place  would 
give  him  better  command  of  his  time,  and  he 
would  be  the  better  able  to  pursue  those  studies 
which  seemed  to  hold  forth  the  promise  of  a  more 
extended  usefulness ;  and  especially  he  would 
have  an  opportunity  of  teaching  the  truths  of 
religion  to  those  who  were  so  soon  to  become  the 
teachers  of  their  fellow-men,  as  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  and  as  the  leaders  of  public  sentiment  in 
the  various  secular  departments  of  public  life. 

It  was  evident  to  all  that  Dr.  Chalmers  had 
fully  decided  the  subject  for  himself,  and  that 
remonstrances  and  entreaties  were  alike  useless. 
He  left  Glasgow  amidst  the  universal  regrets 
of  all  classes  of  persons,  whether  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  or  Dissenters,  whether  Whig  or  Tory 
in  politics.  The  whole  city  loved  and  honored  him, 
and  overwhelmed  him  with  the  universal  expres- 
sion of  love  and  veneration,  which  was  the  more 
emphatic  because  it  was  wholly  unexpected. 

On  Friday,  the  14th  of  December,  Dr.  Chalmers 
delivered  his  introductory  lecture  at  St.  Andrews, 
the  place  of  his  residence  for  the  next  four  years. 

Of  the  various  intellectual  labors  which  Dr. 
Chalmers  prosecuted  during  this  period,  it  is  not 
our  purpose  to  take  particular  notice.      He  pre- 


104  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

pared  and  delivered  his  course  of  lectures  on  mor- 
al philosophy  ;   he  published  the  third  volume  of 
his  work  on  the  Christian  and  civic  economy  of 
large  towns ;  he  gave  much  attention  to  the  inter- 
nal concerns  of  the  University,  and   he  took  an 
important  interest  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Gen- 
eral  Assembly  of  the   Presbyterian    Church,    of 
which  he  was  an  active  and  most  eloquent  meir 
ber.     We,  however,  pass  over  these  labors  enti 
our  design  being  simply  to  present  a  view  of  * 
efforts  in  every  place    for  the    promotion  of  tin. 
cause  of  Christ  and  the  salvation  and  benefit  of 
his  fellow-men. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

CHRISTIAN  LABORS   AT  ST.    ANDREWS. 

position  of  Dr.  Chalmers  in  St.  An- 
drews was  peculiar.  From  Glasgow,  an 
active  and  wealthy  commercial  city  that 
had  become  proud  of  his  talents,  and 
whose  citizens  crowded  his  place  of  wor- 
ship in  admiring  multitudes,  and  where  his  in- 
fluence may  be  described  as  almost  unbounded, 
he  found  himself  in  a  small  and  quiet  city,  re- 
mote from  the  great  lines  of  travel,  his  busi- 
ness, so  far  as  official  duty  was  concerned,  being 
to  lecture  to  a  class  of  one  or  two  hundred  young 
men  and  boys.  The  population  of  St.  Andrews 
itself  was  large  enough  for  the  labors  of  many 
Christian  philanthropists ;  but  the  elders  and 
deacons  of  St.  Johns  were  absent.  There  was 
no  agency,  even  on  the  smallest  scale,  to  carry 
out  any  general  operations  over  the  town,  or  any 
of  its  parishes.  What,  in  these  circumstances,  was 
the  course  to  be  pursued  ?  He  might  have  at- 
tempted to  produce  an  impression  upon  the  public 
mind,  and  arouse  St.  Andrews  from  its  apathy, 
by  such  sermons  as  had  produced  those  thrilling 

105 


106  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

effects  in  Glasgow.  He  might  have  waited  till 
the  people  were  generally  moved,  before  he  him- 
self commenced  a  work  which  should  affect  sim- 
ultaneously the  whole  city.  In  a  man  so  singu- 
larly gifted,  this  might  have  seemed  a  natural 
and  wise  method  of  Christian  effort. 

But  Dr.  Chalmers  did  none  of  this.  He  began 
his  labors  in  the  most  quiet  and  unobtrusive  way. 
True  to  his  own  principles,  as  soon  as  the  fatigues 
of  the  first  session  were  over,  he  marked  out  for 
himself  a  district  of  the  town  adjacent  to  his  place 
of  residence  ;  he  visited  its  families,  and  invited 
the  children  to  attend  a  class  in  his  own  house, 
on  the  Sabbath  evenings.  No  public  announce- 
ment was  made,  no  general  invitation  was  issued ; 
and  the  district  appropriated  being  small,  the 
attendance  on  the  class  was  at  first  limited.  Yet 
for  that  little  group,  composed  of  the  poorest 
children  he  could  gather  around  him,  he  pre- 
pared as  carefully  as  he  did  for  his  class  in  the 
University, — some  stray  leaves  still  existing  on 
which  the  questions  for  the  evening  are  carefully 
written  out.  As  the  existence  of  such  a  class 
became  better  known,  the  applications  for  admis- 
sion increased,  and  one  or  two  of  the  parents 
having  obtained  admission  as  auditors,  others  fol- 
lowed, until  the  room  was  crowded.  By  the  time, 
however,  that  this  class  became  burdensome  from 
its  numbers,  new  and  more  important  claims  upon 
his  labor  had  arisen. 


CHRIS  TIAN  LAB  ORS'AT  ST.  ANDRE  TVS.        107 

One  of  his  pupils,  Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  of  Glasgow, 
gives  us  an  account  of  his  labors  in  a  somewhat 
different  direction.  "  On  being  sent  to  college," 
says  Dr.  M.,  "  my  father  commended  me  to  Dr. 
Chalmers's  spiritual  care.  His  labors  for  the  first 
term  rendered  this  impossible.  In  the  next  ses- 
sion it  was  suggested  to  him  that  he  might  act 
somewhat  of  a  father's  part  to  some  of  the  chil- 
dren of  his  old  friends,  by  taking  us  into  his  house 
on  Sabbath  evenings,  and  giving  us  that  religious 
instruction  to  which  we  had  been  accustomed  at 
home.  He  at  once  consented  to  this,  and  during 
that  winter,  five  of  us  met  regularly  on  Sabbath 
evenings,  when  he  instructed  us  and  dealt  with 
our  souls  as  if  we  had  been  his  own  children.  By 
another  year,  this  little  meeting  was  noised  abroad, 
and,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  their  parents, 
other  students  were  admitted  to  the  privilege  of 
attending  it,  till  the  little  company  had  increased 
to  about  a  dozen.  It  was  his  earnest  desire  not 
to  have  a  larger  number,  for  he  wished  to  look 
on  us  and  deal  with  us  as  in  a  family  character. 
And  so  he  did  in  the  way  of  parental  counsel  and 
prayer,  joined  with  the  approved  old  fashion  of 
catechizing.  By  the  next  year,  however,  appli- 
cations became  so  numerous  and  pressing,  that 
he  at  length  yielded,  and  his  large  dining-room 
was  completely  crammed  with  students  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes.     His  course  of  instruction  then  became 


108  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

more  like  a  familiar  lecture,  very  simple  and  con- 
versational, but  more  valuable  on  that  account. 
We  all  felt  that  we  learned  more  of  really  Chris- 
tian ethics  at  these  meetings  than  by  all  his  exer- 
cises in  the  class-room  of  moral  philosophy." 

The  increase  of  this  class  obliged  Dr.  Chalmers 
to  commit  the  care  of  the  Sabbath  school  to  another. 
The  person  whom  he  selected  for  this  office  was  John 
Urquhart,  with  the  record  of  whose  talents,  piety, 
and  early  death  many  in  this  country  are  already 
familiar.     Of  his  success  in  this  Christian  labor, 
as  well  as   his  eminent  Christian  character,  Dr. 
Chalmers  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  in  the  most 
enthusiastic  terms.     In  writing  of  his  intercourse 
with   Dr.   Chalmers  at  this   time,  Mr.   Urquhart 
remarks:  "Dr.  Chalmers  has  been  more  than  kind 
to  me  this  year.   As  my  school  is  held  in  his  3 
I  generally  sup  with  him  on  Sunday  evening. 
I  enjoy  far  more  of  his  conversation  than  at  tea 
parties.     I  was  much  gratified  by  a  walk  which 
had  with   Dr.   Chalmers  to  visit   the  parents  o. 
the  children  who  attend  his  school.    The  people  in 
some  of  the  houses  seemed  to  recognize  him  famil- 
iarly ;  so  that  he  is  probably  frequently  engaged  in 
these  labors  of  love.     He  thinks  such  exercises  as 
visiting  the  poor  and  the  rich  the  best  introduction 
to  ministerial  labor.      '  This,'  he  said,  as  we  were 
going  along,  i  is  what  I  call  preaching  the  gospel 
to  every  creature;  and  that  cannot  be  done  by 


CHRIS  TIAN  LAB  ORS  AT  ST.  ANDRE  WS.        109 

setting  yourself  in  the  pulpit  as  a  centre  of  at- 
traction, but  by  going  forth  and  making  aggres- 
sive movements  upon  the  community,  and  by 
preaching  from  house  to  house.'  "  Sentiments  quite 
similar  to  this  last  are  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Chal- 
mers's Horse  Sabbaticae.  Thus,  on  1  Cor.  14, 
"  Let  me  have  a  higher  value  for  charity  than  for 
all  talent ;  and  of  this  latter  too  let  me  prize  the 
talent  of  useful  instruction  more  than  the  powers 
that  please  and  astonish,  and  so  are  more  fitted  to 
aggrandize  him  who  owns  them,  and  give  him 
a  more  splendid  reputation  among  men.  Never 
let  me  aspire  after  such  a  language  as  might  prove 
an  unknown  tongue  to  the  common  people.  Save 
me  from  such  literary  ambition,  and  pardon,  0 
God,  my  every  wrong  and  vain  effort  at  the  wis- 
dom of  words,  but  let  me  deal  with  such  words 
as  may  be  easily  understood.  Let  me  preach  not 
as  a  man  of  gifts,  unintelligible  to  many,  but  as 
a  man  of  grace,  commending  myself  to  the  con- 
science of  all." 

But  to  return.  The  school  of  Mr.  Urquhart, 
in  Dr.  Chalmers's  house,  was  not  long  alone. 
It  was  good  fruit,  having  seed  within  itself.  A 
number  of  schools  had  risen  out  of  it,  and  at  last 
they  quite  studded  the  city,  and  a  number  of  the 
students  of  the  University,  encouraged  by  their 
professor's  example,  had  given  themselves  to  simi- 
lar labors.     They  proceeded  to  divide  the  town 


110  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

into  districts,  to  visit  all  the  families,  and  to  es- 
tablish schools  in  every  necessitous  quarter.  Dr. 
Chalmers  wisely  did  not  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  this  movement,  but  encouraged  the  young  men 
to  labor  in  connection  with  the  parish  to  which 
the  district  belonged.  Principal  Haldane  and 
several  of  the  professors  kindly  encouraged  the 
movement.  Nor  was  this  a  blessing  confined  to 
the  poor  in  whose  behalf  it  was  originated.  Their 
common  engagement  in  the  evening  schools  led  the 
students  to  hold  Sabbath  morning  meetings  for 
prayer  and  counsel,  —  meetings  at  which  the  hal- 
lowed fire  that  glowed  in  every  breast  grew  warmer 
at  the  touch  of  a  congenial  flame. 

But  this  step  only  led  to  another.  The  visita- 
tion of  the  districts,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
out  the  young  to  school,  had  revealed  a  great  and 
unexpected  amount  of  religious  indifference  and 
neglect  among  the  adult  population,  —  a  discovery 
which,  when  made  by  ardent  youths  panting  to  do 
good,  was  not  long  in  being  followed  up  by  active 
efforts  to  relieve  the  destitution.  The  zeal,  indeed, 
which  embarked  in  these  efforts  did  not  confine 
itself  to  St.  Andre  vs,  but  flowed  out  upon  ad- 
joining districts.  "There  is  a  new  system,"  said 
Mr.  Urquhart,  "  of  religious  instruction  which 
has  been  attempted  at  St.  Andrews,  which  I  think 
is  a  most  efficient  system  for  evangelizing  large 
towns.     The   plan   is  very  simple.     We  first  in- 


CHRISTIAN  LABORS  AT  ST.  ANDREWS.        Ill 

quired  after  some  persons  residing  in  different 
quarters  of  the  town  who  were  religiously  dis- 
posed. We  called  on  these,  and  requested  the 
favor  of  a  room  in  their  house  for  a  few  of  their 
neighbors  to  assemble  in  for  religious  purposes. 
We  expected  a  group  of  eight  or  ten  persons  to 
assemble,  but  were  astonished  to  find  the  attend- 
ance increase  in  some  of  the  stations  to  fifty  or 
sixty.  Many  of  these  never  went  to  church. 
Churchmen  and  Dissenters  all  went  hand  in  hand, 
anjl  we  forgot  that  there  was  any  distinction.  We 
have  here  Mr.  H.  (now  Dr.  Hoby),  a  Baptist  min- 
ister from  London,  who  has  come  to  attend  Dr. 
Chalmers's  lectures,  and  has  been  very  useful.  He 
and  Mr.  A.  have  established  several  preaching  sta- 
tions in  the  country  round,  where  the  people  seem 
eager  to  hear  the  gospel." 

At  the  same  time,  while  all  this  was  going  for- 
ward, other  doors  were  opened  to  fields  of  useful- 
ness which  Dr.  Chalmers  cheerfully  entered.  It 
seems  that  a  missionary  society,  composed  of 
Christians  of  different  denominations,  had  for 
some  time  existed  in  St.  Andrews.  Of  this  soci- 
ety Dr.  Chalmers  was  invited  to  become  president. 
He  would  not  accept  it  until  it  had  been  offered 
to  and  declined  by  others  whose  official  position 
entitled  them  to  this  token  of  respect.  Having, 
however,  accepted  it,  he  at  once  turned  what 
might  have  been  merely  an  empty  honor  into  an 


112  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CIIALMERS. 

occasion  of  extensive  usefulness.  As  the  association 
was  composed  of  Christians  of  different  denomi- 
nations, he  made  himself  particularly  acquainted 
with  the  history,  success,  or  failure,  and  present 
state  of  every  missionary  society.  At  each  meet- 
ing, he  would  direct  the  attention  of  the  audience 
to  some  particular  society ;  he  would  set  forth  the 
excellences  of  each,  read  the  most  interesting  ex- 
tracts from  its  reports,  interspersed  throughout 
with  suggestions  of  his  own,  and  followed  up  by 
addresses  calculated  to  animate  his  hearers  with 
the  love  of  missions  and  every  other  good  work. 

The  monthly  meetings  of  the  missionary  society 
bad  previously  been  but  ill-attended,  but  under 
such  ministrations  the  attraction  grew,  the  attend- 
ance swelled,  the  room  was  found  to  be  too  small, 
and  an  adjournment  at  last  took  place  to  the  Town 
Hall.  At  these  crowded  assemblies,  where  many 
of  the  most  influential  townspeople  attended,  old 
prejudice  was  softened,  and  a  new  respect  and  at- 
tachment to  evangelical  Christianity  was  in  many 
instances  created. 

Such  were  the  changes  which,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  were  gradually  going  forward  in  the  city 
and  vicinity  of  St.  Andrews.  At  the  same  time, 
changes  of  a  still  more  remarkable  character  were 
witnessed  in  the  University  itself. 

"  Whether  the  students  of  St.  Andrews,"  says 
Dr.  Duff,  "were  in  reality  worse   than  the  stu- 


CHRISTIAN  LAB ORS  AT  ST.  AXDRE WS.        113 

dents  of  other  colleges,  I  have  no  means  of  ascer- 
taining ;  but  somehow  or  other  they  had  obtained 
a  worse  name.  Historic  truth  requires  it  to  be 
recorded  that  the  St.  Andrews  students  as  a  whole 
were,  previously  to  the  advent  of  Dr.  Chalmers, 
a  singularly  godless,  Christless  class.  At  the 
United  College  there  was  only  one  who  was  re- 
puted to  be  pious,  and  who  dared  to  face  the 
dorision  and  the  scorn  of  being  so  reputed.  He 
was  the  butt  and  the  joke  of  every  one,  under  the 
familiar  name  of  6  the  Bishop.'  Nor  was  St. 
Mary's  or  the  Divinity  College  much  better.  In- 
deed, some  of  the  divinity  students  were  even 
more  notorious  for  their  impiety,  immorality,  and 
riotous  re  veilings  than  any  in  the  Philosophy  Col- 
lege. Such  was  the  University  of  St.  Andrews 
before  the  day  of  its  merciful  visitation  in  Novem- 
ber, 1823  ;  such  the  region  of  sceptical  darkness 
and  error 'On  which  the  light  of  a  great  luminary 
broke  in ;  such  the  mass  of  moral  putrescence  on 
which  a  portion  of  quickening  salt  then  fell ;  such 
the  realm  of  spiritual  death  which  was  then  dis- 
turbed by  the  tread  of  a  living  man  !  " 

Shortly  after  Dr.  Chalmers's  arrival,  and  encour- 
aged by  his  sympathies  and  countenance,  a  few  of 
the  divinity  students  formed  themselves  into  an 
association,  with  the  intention  of  reviewing  and 
supporting  missions,  which  held  its  meetings  in  a 
private  room.     The  existence  of  such  an  associa- 

8 


Ill  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

tion  led  to  the  subject  of  missions  being  frequently 
spoken  of  among  other  students,  so  that,  in  vari- 
ous ways,  the  minds  of  many  were  gradually  pre- 
pared to  give  it  a  candid  consideration. 

Early  in  the  session  of  1821-25,  a  few  students 
were  assembled  in  the  room  of  one  of  the  saint- 
liest  youths  that  ever  trod  the  stage  of  time,  —  the 
pious,  the  devoted,  the  heavenly-minded  Urquhart. 
Among  other  religious  topics,  that  of  missions  to 
the  heathen  furnished  a  theme  for  conversation. 
The  question  was  started  as  to  the  possibility  of 
forming  a  missionary  society  among  the  students 
of  the.  Philosophy  College.  The  desirableness  of 
the  object  was  admitted  by  all.  There  were  many 
tremblings  of  heart,  and  great  misgivings  on 
account  of  the  apathy  of  the  majority,  and  the 
scoffs  of  the  enemies  of  the  undertaking.  Yet 
there  were  some  who  were  willing  to  endure  all 
this  and  more  for  a  cause  in  behalf  of  which  they 
could  confidently  rely  upon  the  promised  aid  of 
an  omnipotent  Saviour.  Their  counsels  at  last 
prevailed.  Paper  was  produced,  the  scheme  of  a 
Society  was  drafted,  and  to  it  the  names  of  those 
present  attached.  In  a  few  days  fifty  or  sixty 
more  names  were  added,  a  union  was  formed  be- 
tween it  and  the  small  association  in  the  Divinity 
College  of  which  we  have  before  spoken,  and  thus 
originated  the  St.  Andrews  Missionary  Society, 
which  at  last  ranked  among  its  friends  more  than 
o^-third  of  all  the  attendants  of  both  colleges. 


CHRISTIAN  LABORS  AT  ST.  ANDREWS.         115 

The  society  was  formed,  but  where  should  they 
hold  their  meetings  ?  Their  number  was  too  great 
to  be  accommodated  in  any  student's  private  room 
in  college.  They  naturally  applied  to  the  officers 
of  the  college  for  the  use  of  one  of  the  lecture 
rooms,  once  a  month.  This  request  was  politely 
but  peremptorily  refused.  Some  of  the  officers 
regarded  the  meeting  as  thoroughly  tmacademical, 
and  others  as  too  puritanical  and  Methodistical, 
and  almost  all  believed  that  it  would  divert  young 
men  from  their  appropriate  studies.  After  much 
effort  they  at  length  secured  the  use  of  a  very 
small  and  inconvenient  school-room.  This  was 
in  the  session  of  1824-25. 

The  winter  of  1825-26,  however,  witnessed  a 
surprising  change  in  the  prospects  of  the  mission- 
ary society.  By  this  time,  Dr.  Chalmers's  exercises 
in  the  Town  Hall  had  taken  effect  upon  the  minds 
of  thinking  men  and  women.  They  became  in- 
terested in  the  history  and  objects  of  missions ; 
so  that  what  had  been  before  looked  on  with  con- 
tempt, now  that  the  facts  were  known,  became  an 
interesting  matter  of  conversation.  Dr.  Chalmers's 
lectures  on  moral  philosophy  were  imbuing  his 
class,  and  through  them  the  city,  with  the  ethical 
principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  they  saw 
that  he  was  in  earnest,  for  he  exemplified  them  in 
his  life.  While  in  his  lecture-room  he  enforced 
the  doctrine  of  benevolence,  he  was  seen  visiting 


11G  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

from  house  to  house  among  the  poorest  of  the 
parish,  conversing  with  them  on  the  salvation  of 
the  soul,  and  gathering  their  children  into  his 
house  for  the  instructions  of  a  Sabbath  school. 
The  students  themselves  nobly  did  their  part  in 
removing  the  prejudices  against  the  missionary 
society.  It  had  been  in  operation  for  a  twelve- 
month, and  its  members  proved  themselves  to  be 
neither  idle  dreamers,  visionary  fanatics,  nor  care- 
less and  backward  students.  On  the  contrary,  it 
was  found  that  its  most  zealous  partisans  were 
precisely  those  who  bore  the  highest  character  for 
diligence,  steadiness,  and  general  good  behavior; 
and  not  only  so,  but  were  those  who  carried  away 
the  highest  honors  in  every  department  of  classic 
literature,  science,  philosophy,  or  theology. 

Under  exhibitions  such  as  these,  prejudice  it- 
self yielded.  Some  of  the  professors  relinquished 
their  opposition,  others  became  decidedly  friendly. 
Dr.  Nichol,  principal  of  St.  Salvator's  College, 
received  the  missionary  works  sent  to  him  thank- 
fully, and  of  his  own  accord  rendered  to  him  pecu- 
niary assistance.  In  1824-5,  no  room  could  be 
granted  in  the  University  in  which  they  could 
hold  their  meetings.  In  1825-6,  Dr.  Haldane,  the 
principal  of  St.  Mary's,  voluntarily  came  forward, 
and  in  the  most  cordial  and  generous  manner 
declared  the  Divinity  Hall  at  their  service,  or  any 
other  place  which  his  influence  could  command. 


CHRIS TIAN  LABORS  AT  ST.  ANDRE WS.        117 

The  results  of  these  efforts  in  the  University 
have  already  become  a  matter  of  Christian  history. 
Of  the  three  hundred  who,  during  his  residence 
in  St.  Andrews,  were  under  his  instruction,  very 
many  are  now  filling  posts  of  usefulness  in  the 
church  of  Christ.  The  most  remarkable  fact  in 
connection  with  his  instructions  was,  that  a  very 
unusual  number  devoted  themselves  to  the  work 
of  foreign  missions,  and  in  that  department  of 
Christian  labor  greatly  distinguished  themselves. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Rev.  Mr.  Nesbit 
of  Bombay,  Mr.  John  Adam,  Dr.  Alexander  Duff, 
Rev.  Mr.  Mackay ;  and,  last,  Mr.  John  Urquhart 
was  in  preparation  for  the  same  field  of  labor, 
when  he  was  called  to  serve  in  the  upper  sanctu- 
ary. More  than  one  missionary  came  out  of  each 
college  session,  and  two  out  of  every  hundred 
students.  "  What  other  University  record,"  asks 
Dr.  Hanna,  "  can  present  a  parallel  ?  " 

Of  the  general  effect  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  labors, 
Dr.  Duff  speaks  with  enthusiasm.  "Altogether," 
says  he,  "  what  a  change  in  the  course  of  two  or 
three  years !  Whatever  may  have  been  the  extent 
of  inward  spiritual  renovation,  no  one  could  ques- 
tion the  extent  of  outward,  visible  amelioration 
in  the  religious  aspect  of  things.  Religion,  which 
had  long  settled  down  to  zero,  or  many  degrees 
below  it,  was  sensibly  raised  in  its  temperature, 
and  in   some  instances  kindled  into  an  inextin- 


118  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

guishable  flame.  The  long  repose  of  stagnation 
and  death,  with  its  teeming  brood  of  corruptions, 
was  effectually  disturbed,  and  out  of  the  strife 
and  conflict  of  hostile  elements  a  new  progeny, 
fraught  with  life  and  purity,  began  to  emerge,  and 
in  the  missionary  libraries  and  assemblies  and 
prayer-meetings,  the  Sabbath  schools  and  preach- 
ing-stations in  town  and  country,  an  extensive 
machinery  was  erected  for  the  diffusion  of  life- 
giving  influences  all  around.  And  all  this  sud- 
denly springing  into  existence  from  the  presence 
of  one  man !  Those  who  could  compare  what  St. 
Andrews  was  immediately  before  Dr.  Chalmers's 
residence  there,  and  what  it  was  two  or  three 
years  after  his  arrival,  were  constrained  to  feel 
that  no  language  could  more  appropriately  express 
the  greatness  of  the  change  than  that  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah :  '  The  wilderness  and  the  solitary 
place  shall  be  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  shall 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  It  shall  blossom 
abundantly,  and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing. 
The  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it,  and 
the  excellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon ;  they  shall 
see  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  the  excellency  of 
our  God.' " 


CHAPTER    VII. 

dr.  Chalmers's  residence  in  Edinburgh  —  church 
extension. 

^T  was  in  the  midst  of  this  signal  career  of 
Christian  usefulness  that  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
unexpectedly  removed  to  Edinburgh,  which 
became  his  residence  for  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  On  the  31st  of  October,  1827,  the 
Town  Council  and  magistrates  of  the  city  elected 
him  to  fill  the  chair  of  Divinity  in  the  University 
of  Edinburgh.  He  was  not,  however,  expected  to 
commence  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  the 
professorship  until  the  November  of  the  following 
year  ;  and  thus  the  opportunity  of  a  year's  vacation 
would  be  afforded  him  for  the  preparation  of  a 
new  course  of  lectures.  He  heard  of  his  election 
on  Thursday,  November  first;  and  on  Tuesday,  the 
sixth,  his  preparations  had  commenced.  On  the 
third  of  November,  1828,  he  took  a  final  leave 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Edin- 
burgh, to  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  the  new 
duties  which  he  had  assumed. 

The  first  duty  which  pressed  upon  Dr.  Chal- 
mers was,  of  course,  the  preparation  of  his  the- 

119 


120  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

ological  lectures,  which  he  immediately  com- 
menced. This  required  special  care,  as  his  rep- 
utation had  attracted  a  large  number  of  hearers 
from  the  most  intelligent  classes  of  laymen  in  Ed- 
inburgh. He  was  the  man  of  the  most  mark  in 
Scotland.  Tourists  from  England  and  the  Con- 
tinent, of  any  note,  whether  literary,  religious, 
or  scientific,  if  they  could  procure  introductions 
to  him,  and  frequently  even  without  any,  called 
on  him  as  a  matter  of  course.  These  visits  were 
rendered  the  more  time-consuming  than  they 
would  otherwise  have  been,  by  his  abundant  hos- 
pitality, his  genial  temper,  and  the  brilliancy  of 

his  various  and  fascinating  conversation.     He  was 

I  ° 

known  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  Scotland ;  he  paid  great  attention  to  all  its 
interests,  and  was  a  frequent  member  of  its  most 
important  committees.  The  authorship,  to  which 
he  had  before  directed  considerable  attention,  was 
now  resumed  as  one  of  the  permanent  occupa- 
tions of  his  life.  The  consideration  of  these  inter- 
esting topics  we  shall  omit,  wishing  merely,  as  we 
have  proposed,  to  present  the  parochial  and  other 
labors  of  Dr.  C,  in  his  efforts  to  advance  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  promote  the  salvation  of 
souls. 

Two  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  his  life,  aside  from 

tose  which  may  be  styled  truly  parochial,  were 

that  undertaken  to  promote  the  cause  of  church 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  121 

extension ;  and  that  which  resulted  in  the  origin 
and  establishment  of  the  Free  Church.  We  will 
as  briefly  as  possible  allude  to  both  of  these,  pre- 
mising, however,  that  ecclesiastical  cases  in  Scot- 
land and  America  are  so  dissimilar  that  very 
likely  I  may  not  succeed  in  making  myself  per- 
fectly understood. 

In  order  to  take  a  correct  view  of  Dr.  Chalmers's 
course  through  this  period  of  his  life,  it  will  be 
necessary  briefly  to  allude  to  some  of  the  admitted 
truths  by  which  his  conduct  was  governed.  I  say 
admitted  truths,  because,  though  some  of  them 
may  be  matters  of  doubt  to  others,  yet  to  him 
they  were  all  clear  and  indisputable  verities. 

1.  In  the  year  1834,  at  a  public  meeting  in  Ed- 
inburgh, Dr.  Chalmers  thus  made  known  the  noble 
object  to  the  accomplishment  of  which  his  whole 
life  was  consecrated :  "  The  dearest  object  of  my 
earthly  existence"  said  he,  "  is  the  elevation  of  the 
common  people,  humanized  by  Christianity,  and 
raised  by  the  strength  of  their  moral  habits  to  a 
higher  platform  of  human  nature;  and  by  which 
they  may  attain  and  enjoy  the  rank  and  consider- 
ation due  to  enlightened  and  companionable  men. 
The  imperishable  soul  of  the  poor  man  is  of  as 
much  price  in  the  sight  of  Heaven  as  the  soul 
of  the  rich ;  and  I  will  resist  to  the  uttermost, 
I  will  resist  even  to  the  death,  that  alienation 
which  goes  but  to  swell  the  luxury  of  the  higher 


122  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

ranks   at  the  expense  of  the    Christianity  of  the 
lower  orders." 

These  words  express  the  object  to  the  attain- 
ment of  which  his  whole  life  was  consecrated, 
and  for  which,  not  theoretically  but  practically,  he 
was  willing  to  make  every  sacrifice. 

2.  In  the  next  place,  he  believed  that  the  gospel, 
and  the  gospel  alone,  had  the  power  to  elevate 
men  to  their  proper  rank  in  this  life,  and  prepare 
them  for  glory,  honor,  and  immortality  in  the  life 
to  come.  He  was,  therefore,  intensely  desirous 
that  the  gospel  might  be  preached  to  every  crea- 
ture; for  he  believed  that  until  it  is  thus  preached, 
no  proper  trial  is  made  of  its  power. 

3.  He  became  convinced  from  his  own  personal 
observation  that  the  gospel  was  not  thus  preached 
in  Scotland.  In  the  cities  especially,  and  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  the  country,  the  gospel  was 
preached  to  but  a  fraction  of  the  inhabitants.  A 
portion  of  the  highest  rank,  and  more  of  the  mid- 
dle classes,  might  attend  once  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
the  masses  going  very  seldom,  and  most  of  them 
not  at  all.  If  it  were  said  that  through  those 
who  hear,  the  gospel  finds  its  way  to  those  who 
hear  not,  the  answer  is,  that  such  is  not  the  fact ; 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  progress  of  luxury 
is  rendering  wider  and  deeper  the  chasm  which 
divides  the  upper  classes  from  the  masses  of  the 
community.  He  had  found  that  a  minister  might 
preach  to  admiring  crowds  on  the  Sabbath,  and 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  123 

preach  the  gospel  in  earnest,  and  then,  within  a 
few  stones-throw  of  the  church,  plunge  into  the 
midst  of  a  godless  heathenism,  as  dark  and  be- 
nighted as  he  could  find  in  India.  I  much  fear 
that  what  was  true  of  Glasgow  is  now,  to  a  consid- 
erable extent,  true  of  many  a  ministration  of  the 
gospel  in  our  own  country. 

4.  Dr.  Chalmers  believed  that  a  remedy  might  be 
found  for  this  sad  state  of  things  in  Scotland.  He 
had  made  the  experiment  in  St.  Johns.  He  had 
left,  the  Tron  Church,  with  all  its  opulence  and 
social  consideration,  in  order  to  make  it.  He 
had  seen  the  changes  which  the  gospel,  when  car- 
ried to  the  families  of  the  poor,  had  wrought  in 
four  years.  The  case  did  not  any  longer  admit 
of  argument ;  it  was  open  to  the  examination  of 
the  whole  community.  The  fact  could  not  be 
denied,  and  the  cause  could  not  be  misunder- 
stood;  it  was  all  done  simply  by  carrying  the 
teaching  and  the  practice  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  attended  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  every 
family  within  the  confines  of  the  parish. 

5.  With  that  wonderful  power  of  generaliza- 
tion, and  that  confidence  in  general  principles,1 

l  A  remarkable  instance  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  confidence  in  general  prin- 
ciples occurred  in  his  early  history.  At  the  time  when  he  was  rebuild- 
ing the  manse  at  Kilmany,  the  discovery  of  olefiant  gas  Was  announced, 
which  it  was  said  could  be  used  with  great  advantage  in  place  of 
oil  and  candles,  for  the  purposes  of  illumination.  He  at  once  placed 
gas  pipes  through  his  house,  confident  that  the  time  would  come  when 
they  would  be  needed.  Probably  this  house  was  the  first  in  Scotland 
that  was  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  discovery. 


124  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

by  which  he  was  so  signally  distinguished,  he  at 
once  transferred  the  cases  of  St.  Johns  and  Kil- 
many  to  the  whole  of  Scotland.  He  saw  every- 
where, throughout  his  native  country,  the  lower 
classes  sinking  deeper  every  year  in  ignorance 
and  vice.  Heathenism  was  actually  gaining  upon 
Christianity ;  and  he  trembled  when  he  anticipated 
the  day  when  the  careless,  the  rich,  the  luxurious 
and  effeminate,  would  come  into  collision  with 
ignorant,  lawless  and  unprincipled  masses.  For 
so  universal  an  evil  he  sought  for  an  equally 
universal  remedy.  He  longed  to  arouse  the  na- 
tion to  an  attempt  to  avert  a  national  evil.  He 
desired  to  call  upon  the  disciples  of  Christ  to 
obey  the  last  injunction  of  their  Master,  and  go 
forth  bearing  in  their  hands  the  message  of  sal- 
vation, carrying  it  to  the  thousands  around  them, 
that  so  the  perishing  multitudes  might  be  rescued 
from  impending  perdition. 

6.  There  was  another  belief  of  Dr.  Chalmers, 
which,  though  somewhat  out  of  place,  may  as 
well  be  noticed  here.  It  was,  that  since  religion 
is  necessary  to  a  nation's  prosperity,  if  not  indeed 
to  its  permanent  existence,  it  is  the  legitimate 
duty  of  the  government  to  uphold  it.  He  desired, 
therefore,  an  established  church,  for  which  the 
government,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  should 
erect  houses  of  worship,  establish  parishes,  and 
pay  the  ministers.     Having  done  so  much,  how- 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  125 

ever,  it  must  stop.  "  The  church,  thus  established 
in  its  religious  and  ecclesiastical  concerns,  must 
be  perfectly  free.  Government  can  no  more  lay  a 
finger  on  the  minister  or  the  people,  while  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  Christ, 
than  a  burglar  may  enter  his  neighbor's  house. 
An  organized  provision,  as  he  said  in  another 
place,  is  all  that  we  contend  for.  We  want,  in 
other  words,  a  legal  provision  for  the  support  of  a 
Christian  ministry,  without  the  slightest  infringe- 
ment on  the  spiritual  prerogatives  of  the  church, 
or  the  ecclesiastical  independence  of  her  clergy- 
men. We  have  no  other  communication  with  the 
state  than  that  of  being  maintained  by  it,  after 
which  we  are  left  to  regulate  the  proceedings 
of  our  great  home-mission,  with  all  the  purity 
and  the  piety  and  the  independence  of  any  mis- 
sionary board.  In  things  ecclesiastical,  we  decide 
all.  They  are  not,  they  cannot  be  forced  upon  us 
from  without.  We  own  no  head  of  the  church  but 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Implicated  as  the  church 
and  state  are  imagined  to  be,  they  are  not  so  im- 
plicated as  that,  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  a  full  and  final  effect  can 
be  given  to  any  proceeding  by  which  the  good  of 
Christianity  and  the  religion  of  our  people  may 
be  affected.  There  is  not  a  clerical  appointment 
which  can  take  place  in  any  one  of  our  parishes 
till  we  have  sustained  it.     In  things  ecclesiastical, 


126  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

the  highest  power  of  our  church  is  amenable  to 
no  higher  power  on  earth  for  its  decisions.  It 
can  exclude,  it  can  deprive,  it  can  depose  at  pleas- 
ure. External  force  might  make  an  obnoxious 
individual  the  holder  of  a  benefice,  but  there  is 
no  external-  force  in  these  realms  that  could 
make  him  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
The  king,  by  himself,  or  by  his  representative, 
might  be  the  spectator  of  our  proceedings  ;  but 
what  Lord  Chatham  said  of  the  poor  man's  house, 
is  true  in  all  its  parts  of  the  church  to  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  belong.  In  England,  every 
man's  house  is  his  castle  ;  not  that  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  walls  and  battlements  ;  it  may  be  a 
straw-built  shed ;  every  wind  of  heaven  may  whis- 
tle around  it,  every  element  of  heaven  may  enter 

it,   but   THE   KING   CANNOT,   THE   KING   DARE  NOT." 

Such  were  Dr.  Chalmers's  views,  whether  right 
or  wrong,  of  an  established  church,  and  such  in  his 
opinion  the  relation  which  subsisted  between  it 
and  the  government.  We  have  gone  into  them 
more  particularly,  because  these,  which  he  consid- 
ered first  principles,  were  the  causes  of  one  of  the 
greatest  acts  of  his  life,  —  the  disruption  of  the 
established  church  of  Scotland.  We  have  an- 
other reason.  Dr.  Chalmers  delivered  a  course 
of  lectures,  by  invitation,  before  a  select  audience 
of  the  highest  of  the  land,  on  religious  establish- 
ments, and  he  has  been  accused  of  great  incon- 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  127 

sistency,  in  so  soon  afterwards  taking  the  lead  in 
breaking  loose  from  the  Scottish  establishment 
altogether.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it 
was  just  these  views  of  an  establishment  which  he 
maintained  in  London,  and  which  were  received 
with  rapturous  applause  by  the  ablest  and  noblest 
of  the  realm  ;  and  to  no  passage  was  that  applause 
more  emphatic  than  to  that  just  quoted,  ending, 
"  the  king  cannot,  the  king  dare  not."  His  views 
before  his  audience  in  London,  and  those  in  the 
pulpit  and  the  General  Assembly,  seem  to  me  to 
be  identical.  And  yet,  many  of  those  who  ap- 
plauded this  sentiment  in  London,  when  he  hon- 
estly, and  in  the  spirit  of  a  martyr,  carried  it  into 
practice  in  Edinburgh,  were  the  loudest  in  accus- 
ing him  of  inconsistency,  while  he  only  adhered  to 
that  great  principle  which  he  had  always  held,  and 
so  frequently  and  fervently  advocated. 

Before  entering  upon  the  labors  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers in  the  work  of  church  extension,  it  may  be 
well  to  allude  to  a  pleasing  incident  which  oc- 
curred at  this  time. 

In  the  year  1832,  Dr.  Chalmers  was  honored  by 
election  to  the  moderatorship  of  the  General  As- 
sembly. It  is  known  that  at  the  meetings  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  the 
majesty  of  Great  Britain  is  represented  by  one 
of  the  peers  of  the  realm,  who  is  present  at  all 
the  meetings,  and  who  is  supposed  to  add  greatly 
to  the  imposing  nature  of  that  august  assembly. 


128  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

It  had  from  time  immemorial  been  the  custom 
for  the  High  Commissioner  to  give  a  daily  public 
dinner,  and  the  moderator  a  public  breakfast  to 

the  members  of  the  Assembly,  during  the  contin- 
uance of  the  session.  These  entertainments  were 
given  on  the  Sabbath  as  well  as  other  days  of  the 
week.  To  Dr.  Chalmers  this  seemed  a  sort  of 
desecration  of  the  Sabbath.  The  Sunday  break- 
fast he  could  discontinue  at  his  own  motion,  but 
he  was  always  specially  invited  and  expected  to 
attend  the  dinner  at  the  High  Commissioner's,  and 
how  should  he  be  excused  ?  Under  these  circum- 
stances he  wrote  the  following  note  to  Lord  Bel- 
haven,  his  Majesty's  representative  :  — 

"  Edinburgh,  May  3,  1832. 

"  My  Lord  :  —  On  the  chance,  which  I  now  see 
to  be  a  likely  one,  of  my  becoming  moderator  of 
the  next  General  Assembly,  there  is  one  point 
respecting  which  I  beg  to  throw  myself  on  the 
indulgence  of  your  Lordship.  I  could  not  without 
pain  be  present  at  the  public  dinner  on  Sundays, 
and  I  feel  that  nothing  more  is  necessary  than  the 
bare  communication  of  this  feeling,  to  make  your 
Lordship  willing  to  dispense  with  my  attendance 
on  these  occasions.  I  have  made  no  one  else  privy 
to  this  communication,  preferring  that  the  matter 
should  be  adjusted  by  a  liberal  and  understood 
arrangement  between  your  Lordship  and  myself, 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  129 

to  its  becoming  a  subject  of  public  discussion. 
At  the  same  time,  let  me  not  disguise  my  convic- 
tion (and  I  ask  your  Lordship  to  pardon  the  lib- 
erty I  take  in  expressing  it),  that  it  were  better 
if  the  Sunday  dinners  were  altogether  dispensed 
with.  I  feel  quite  assured,  my  Lord,  that  did  such 
an  arrangement  originate  with  yourself,  it  would 
be  felt  as  a  strong  additional  claim  to  those  al- 
ready possessed  by  your  Lordship  on  the  respect 
and  gratitude  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  With 
many  apologies  for  this  intrusion, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c.  &c. 

"  Thomas  Chalmers. 

"TO    THE   KlGHT   HoiSrOJElABLE    LORD    BELHAVEN." 

This  letter  met  with  the  most  gracious  recep- 
tion. The  personal  request  was  not  only  at  once 
acceded  to,  but  the  general  suggestion  was  will- 
ingly adopted.  The  Sabbath  dinners,  as  well  as 
the  Sabbath  breakfasts,  were  then,  and  have  since 
that  time  been  discontinued.  "  And,  I  believe  I 
may  add,"  says  Lord  Belhaven,  "  that  no  measure 
ever  gave  more  general  satisfaction."  It  is  a 
pleasing  mark  of  distinction  and  remembrance 
which  thus  attaches  to  Dr.  Chalmers's  moderator- 
ship. 

Throughout  his  life  the  soul  of  Dr.  Chalmers 
was  engrossed  with  the  idea  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  —  the  devising  of  means  by  which  the  gos- 


130  MEMOIR   OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

pel  might  be  carried  to  every  family  of  Scotland. 
As  early  as  1817,  he  had  made  an  effort  for  the 
erection  of  twenty  new  churches  in  Glasgow.  It 
was  then,  at  the  commencement  of  his  labors, 
smiled  upon  as  visionary.  The  effects  of  his  min- 
istry in  due  time  worthily  manifested  themselves. 
In  1834,  Mr.  Collins,  a  very  intimate  friend  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,  undertook  to  accomplish  what  had  been 
unsuccessfully  attempted  seventeen  years  before. 
His  object  was  to  erect  by  private  benevolence 
twenty  new  parish  churches.  An  association  was 
formed,  the  public  was  appealed  to.  No  active  step 
was  to  be  taken  until  X 20,000  were  subscribed. 
This  was  in  the  summer.  Before  the  month  of 
October  this  sum  was  realized.  In  close  coopera- 
tion with  Dr.  Chalmers,  he  labored  steadily  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  and  in  1841, 
seven  years  from  the  inception  of  the  undertaking, 
these  noble  men  saw  the  twentieth  church  com- 
pleted. 

The  triumphant  success  which  attended  the  effort 
of  a  private  individual,  a  layman,  in  Glasgow,  had 
its  suitable  effect  upon  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Established  Church.  It  stimulated  them  to 
serious  effort,  by  showing  them  how  abundant  were 
the  rewards  that  accompanied  Christian  labor  in 
Scotland.  Since  the  days  of  the  Reformation  the 
population  of  Scotland  had  more  than  doubled 
itself;  yet  the  number  of  parishes  and  churches 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  131 

had  not  increased.  To  maintain  the  same  relative 
amount  of  religious  instruction,  fourteen  hundred 
ministers  and  churches  should  be  added.  His 
own  investigations  in  the  Tron  parish  satisfied 
him  that  of  the  working  classes  generally  not  one- 
half  attended  church,  while  large  and  crowded 
districts  existed  in  which  not  above  one-eighth 
had  sittings  in  any  place  of  worship,  or  made  any 
profession  of  Christianity.  It  was  evident  that 
the  masses  of  the  people  were  living  without  God 
in  the  world ;  nay,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  the  whole  country  was  steadily,  in  the  midst 
of  religious  forms,  tending  to  heathenism. 

As  soon  as  Dr.  Chalmers,  by  personal  observa- 
tion, became  convinced  that  this  was  the  fact,  he 
set  himself  at  once  to  remedy  the  evil.  He  seems 
to  have  been  the  first  person  who  plainly  looked 
the  matter  in  the  face.  The  church,  however,  was 
slow  to  move.  In  1828,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed on  the  subject,  and  they  so  far  performed 
their  duty  as  annually  to  memorialize  the  gov- 
ernment, and  report  year  after  year  that  nothing 
had  been  done.  At  last,  in  1834,  quickened  by 
the  successful  efforts  of  Mr.  Collins,  the  Assembly 
reappointed  its  committee  on  church  accommoda- 
tion, furnished  it  with  new  powers  and  new  in- 
structions, and  gave  the  best  assurance  that  it  wTas 
in  earnest  by  placing  Dr.  Chalmers  at  its  head. 

The  Assembly  had  scarcely  dissolved,  when  Dr. 


182  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

Chalmers  summoned  the  large  and  influential 
committee  of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  pre- 
sented his  views  of  their  position  and  their  duties. 
After  alluding  to  the  fact  that  a  committee  of  this 
sort  had  been  in  existence  since  1828,  and  h^ad 
unsuccessfully  appealed  to  government ;  and  that 
now  the  Assembly  had  conferred  upon  them  new 
and  sufficient  powers,  he  states  that  "  if  he  had 
been  left  to  choose  out  of  the  countless  diversities 
of  well-doing,  this  one,  of  convener  of  this  commit- 
tee, is  that  which  he  would  have  selected  as  the 
most  congenial  to  his  taste,  and  the  most  fitted  by 
the  high  sense  which  he  entertained  of  its  impor- 
tance for  commanding  the  devotion  of  all  his  pow- 
ers to  it."  At  the  conclusion  of  his  address  he 
adds :  "I  trust  the  committee  will  not  relax  in 
its  exertions,  and  not  relinquish  them  even  though 
it  should  require  the  perseverance  of  a  whole  gen- 
eration, till  we  have  made  it  a  sufficiently  thick- 
set establishment,  and  brought  it  into  a  state  of 
full  equipment;  till  churches  have  been  so  multi- 
plied, and  parochial  charges  so  subdivided,  that 
there  will  not  one  poor  family  be  found  in  our 
land  who  might  not,  if  they  will,  have  entry  and 
accommodation  in  a  place  of  worship,  and  reli- 
gious instruction,  with  such  a  share  in  the  personal 
attentions  of  the  clergyman  as  to  claim  him  for 
an  acquaintance  and  a  friend. " 

Such  was  the  noble  idea  which  Dr.  Chalmers  en- 


CnURCH  EXTENSION.  133 

tertained  of  the  duty  to  which  he  was  called ;  it  was 
no  less  than  to  send  the  gospel,  with  all  its  blessings 
for  time  and  eternity,  to  every  family  throughout 
the  whole  of  Scotland.  And  this  was  not  mere  the- 
ory,—  he  was  really  in  earnest  about  it;  and  for 
the  five  subsequent  years  he  gave  to  it  all  tlie  time 
which  ,was  not  demanded  by  the  duties  of  his  pro- 
fessorship, and  those  other  labors  of  the  press  to 
which  he  believed  himself  specially  called. 

In  June,  a  few  weeks  after  this  appointment, 
he  had  prepared  a  circular,  which  was  approved 
and  immediately  printed,  and  in  a  few  days  was 
on  its  way  to  every  corner  of  the  land.  The  min- 
isters were  called  upon,  in  virtue  of  the  vote  of 
the  Assembly,  to  take  up  collections  in  all  their 
parishes.  He  wrote  letters  personally  to  those  on 
whose  liberality  the  church  had  the  highest  claim. 
He  corresponded  with  clergymen  in  every  part  of 
Scotland.  Nor  did  he  stop  here ;  he  appealed  to 
government  for  aid,  and  asked  that  when  the 
churches  should  be  built  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions, the  government  would  make  an  allowance 
for  each  minister  who  should  be  called  to  the  par- 
ish. In  this  part  of  the  work  his  correspondence 
was  voluminous,  and  it  brought  him  into  imme- 
diate contact  with  the  ministry  of  the  time.  For  a 
while  it  appeared  probable  that  he  would  succeed. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  government  would  look  upon 
his  plan  with  favor.     Objections,  however,  arose ; 


134  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

there  were  evident  indications  that  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  government  would  be  unpopular,  and 
in  the  end  it  was  apparent  that  neither  political 
party  would  do  anything  about  it. 

Disappointed  but  not  disheartened,  he  turned 
with  undiminished  hope  to  the  people.  He  re- 
doubled his  labors,  issued  pamphlet  after  pamph- 
let, wrote  in  every  direction,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  year  made  his  first  report  to  the  Assembly. 
From  this  report  it  appears  that  in  a  single  year 
upwards  of  sixty-five  thousand  pounds  (325,000 
dollars)  had  been  contributed,  and  sixty-four  new 
churches,  about  as  many  as  the  whole  preceding 
century  had  given  birth  to,  had  been  or  were 
being  built  in  connection  with  the  Establish- 
ment. 

During  the  years  1835-36-37,  the  great  object 
of  home  evangelism  was  prosecuted  with  unflag- 
ging devotion.  To  the  means  already  in  use, 
another  and  important  mode  of  arousing  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  was  added.  A  sub-commit- 
tee was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  organizing 
meetings,  in  various  parts  of  Scotland,  which 
should  be  addressed  by  influential  individuals  who 
should  advocate  the  cause  in  the  most  popular 
and  effective  manner.  Associations  were  formed 
in  every  part  of  the  land.  Dr.  Chalmers  himself 
took  several  journeys  into  various  parts  of  Scotland, 
presenting  the  subject  to  multitudes  with  all  the 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  135 

power  of  his  eloquence.  The  result  was  most  en- 
couraging. As  the  result  of  four  years'  labor,  he 
announced  to  the  Assembly  that  nearly  two  hun- 
dred churches  had  been  added  to  the  Establish- 
ment, for  the  erection  of  which  upwards  of  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  (about  a  million  of 
dollars)  had  been  contributed.  He  adds:  "The 
work  is  still  far  from  its  termination ;  it  has,  so  to 
speak,  only  begun.  Cases  of  the  most  helpless 
and  affecting  destitution  remain  to  be  overtaken. 
There  are  wastes  of  poverty,  irreligion,  and  crime 
which  have  still  to  be  redeemed,  and  which  noth- 
ing but  the  effective  operation  of  a  territorial  Es- 
tablishment, wisely,  strenuously,  and  perseveringly 
conducted,  is  adequate  to  subdue;  and  until  every 
such  moral  wilderness  is  explored  and  reclaimed, 
and  the  whole  country  presents  the  aspect  of  a  field 
which  the  Lord  hath  blessed  and  is  causing  to 
bring  forth  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  the  com- 
mittee may  not  rest  from  their  labors,  nor  the 
people  from  their  hearty  and  zealous  cooperation." 
It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  Dr.  Chalmers  mi- 
nutely to  the  close  of  this  protracted  and  most 
successful  effort.  In  the  year  1889,  he  devoted 
himself  to  journeys  into  various  parts  of  Scotland, 
and  everywhere,  as  we  have  remarked,  with  en- 
couraging success.  He  was  now  in  his  sixtieth 
year,  and  was  beginning  to  feel  the  effects  of  age. 
In  making  his  last  report  to  the  Assembly,  he  thus 


136  MEMOIR    OF   DR     CI1 AIMERS. 

alludes  to  himself:  "  The  convener  of  your  com- 
mittee, who  has  prepared  the  above  report,  craves 
permission  to  close  it  with  one  brief  paragraph 
that  is  personal  to  himself.  He  finds  that  the 
labors  and  requisite  attention  of  an  office  which  for 
six  years  he  has  so  inadequately  filled,  have  now 
become  too  much  for  him ;  and  for  the  sake  of 
other  labors,  and  other  preparations  more  in  keep- 
ing with  the  arduous  work  of  a  theological  pro- 
fessorship, as  well  as  with  the  powers,  and  he  may 
add  the  prospects  and  duties  of  advanced  life,  he 
begs  that  he  may  now  be  suffered  to  withdraw. 
He  to  whom  you  assigned  so  high  and  honorable 
an  office  as  the  prosecution  of  this  object,  and 
who  now  addresses  you  in  the  capacity  of  its 
holder  for  the  last  time,  will  not  let  go  the  confi- 
dent hope  that  under  the  smile  of  an  approving 
Heaven,  and  with  the  blessing  from  on  high,  glori- 
ous things  are  yet  in  reserve  for  the  parishes  of 
Scotland ;  and  though  his  hand,  now  waxing  fee- 
ble, must  desist  from  the  performances  of  other 
days,  sooner  will  that  hand  forget  its  cunning 
than  he  can  forget  or  cease  to  feel  for  the  church 
of  his  fathers." 

When  he  resigned  his  office  as  a  member  of  the 
committee  for  church  accommodation,  the  result 
of  his  labors  may  be  thus  summed  up.  There 
had  been  added  to  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland,  through  the  efforts  of   the  committee. 


CHURCH  EXTENSION.  137 

two  hundred  and  twenty-two  churches,  at  the  cost 
of  £305,747  lis.  2id.,1  or  more  than  a  million 
and  a  half  dollars.  Such  were  the  results  of  the 
labors  of  Dr.  Chalmers  in  the  cause  of  church 
extension. 

1 A  pound  is  reckoned  at  $4.80  American  currency. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

LABORS    CONNECTED    WITH    THE    ORIGIN    AND    ESTAB- 
LISHMENT   OF    THE    FREE    CHURCH. 

E  have  seen  above  how  greatly  the  labors 
of  Dr.  Chalmers  were  blessed  in  the 
matter  of  church  extension.  But  this 
was  only  a  part  of  his  work.  For  the  past 
five  years  a  great  change  had  been  vis- 
ible in  the  Assembly  of  the  Established  Church. 
For  a  long  period  preceding,  it  had  sunk  into 
a  condition  of  formalism,  and  might  have  been 
with  too  much  truth  denominated  an  incubus 
upon  the  cause  of  Christ.  A  gradual  but  steady 
improvement  had,  however,  taken  place ;  and 
it  was  evident  from  the  majorities  on  all  im- 
portant questions,  that  a  new  spirit  had  been 
breathed  into  the  Assembly,  and  that  neither 
with  the  masses  of  the  communicants,  nor  with 
the  members  of  the  Assembly,  their  delegates, 
was  religion  to  be  any  more  a  matter  of  form. 
The  amount  collected  for  the  public  religious 
enterprises  in  which  the  Assembly  was  engaged 
was  in  1839  fourteen  times  greater  than  it  had 
been  in  1834.     Speaking  of  this  brief  but  brilliant 

138 


TEE  FREE  CEURCE.  139 

\ 

period,  Dr.  Chalmers  says,  "  We  abolished  the 
union  of  offices,  we  are  planting  schools,  we  are 
multiplying  chapels,  we  are  sending  forth  mission- 
aries to  distant  parts  of  the  world,  we  have  puri- 
fied and  invigorated  the  discipline,  we  are  extend- 
ing the  church  and  rallying  our  population  round 
its  venerable  standard,  we  are  bringing  the  sec- 
taries again  within  its  pale,  and  last,  though  not 
least,  we  have  reformed  the  patronage ;  and  our 
licentiates,  instead  of  a  tutorship  in  the  families 
of  the  great  as  their  stepping-stone  to  preferment, 
now  betake  themselves  to  a  parochial  assistantship, 
or  to  a  preaching  station,  with  its  home-week  of 
Christian  usefulness  among  the  families  of  the 
surrounding  poor,  as  the  best  preparation  for  the 
duties  of  their  high  calling."  We  by  no  means, 
of  course,  assert  that  these  changes  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church  were  owing  to  Dr.  Chalmers  alone. 
With  him  were  associated  Drs.  Thompson,  Cand- 
lish,  Welsh,  Gordon,  Cunningham,  and  many  oth- 
ers, men  of  distinguished  ability ;  still  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  they  all  looked  upon  him 
as  their  leader,  by  far  the  most  important  man 
of  them  all.  When  he  relinquished  the  labor 
of  the  church  extension  committee,  he  consid- 
ered the  active  work  of  his  life  as  ended.  He 
had  begun  to  feel  the  infirmities  of  age.  He  had 
suffered  one  attack  of  disease  that  plainly  indicated 
to  him  his  danger  from  paralysis.     He  desired  to 


140  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

I 

retire  from  public  service,  except  the  duties  of 
his  professorship,  and  devote  the  remainder  of  his 
days  to  more  private  Christian  effort,  and  the  prep- 
aration of  his  own  soul  for  the  glorious  change 
which  was  rapidly  approaching. 

But  little  did  he  know  of  the  labors  which  were 
yet  to  be  devolved  upon  him.  Little  did  he  antici- 
pate that  the  prosperous  effort  and  the  Christian 
unity  of  the  Assembly  were  to  be  exchanged  for  ear- 
nest if  not  bitter  contention,  ending  at  last  in  a  wide 
disruption  ;  and  that  he  would  be  called  upon  to 
assume  the  heaviest  responsibility  throughout  this 
succession  of  changes. 

It  will  be  perceived,  of  course,  that  we  refer  to 
the  non-intrusion  controversy,  the  disruption,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 
To  enter  into  a  narrative  of  these  transactions  in 
detail  is  not  our  purpose.  Nor  is  it  necessary. 
Our  modes  of  thinking  in  this  country  are  widely 
different  from  those  in  Scotland.  While  we  agree 
with  Dr.  Chalmers  and  his  associates  in  many  re- 
spects, yet  in  others,  especially  his  unwavering 
attachment  to  establishments,  we  greatly  differ. 
It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  to  enter  upon  the 
subject  at  large  would  consume  more  time  than 
it  can  reasonably  demand,  and,  what  is  more,  it 
would  be  time  that  can  be  much  more  satisfac- 
torily employed.  We  shall  therefore  only  pre- 
sent such  of  the  more  important  facts  as  will  en- 


THE  FREE  CHURCH.  141 

able  us  to  form  a  conception  of  the  labors  which 
Dr.  Chalmers  felt  himself  called  upon  to  under- 
take. 

Some  time  in  the  year  1834  the  Earl  of  Kin- 
noul,  the  patron,  presented  to  the  parish  of  Auch- 
tcrarder,  in  Perthshire,  a  Mr.  Young,  as  the  min- 
ister of  the  church  then  vacant.  After  he  had 
preached  on  two  successive  Sabbaths  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  late  vacant  church,  a  day  was  appointed  for 
moderating  a  call,  that  is,  for  inviting  the  people 
to  express  their  concurrence  in  his  settlement. 
In  a  parish  containing  three  thousand  souls,  only 
two  of  its  inhabitants  came  forward  on  that  day 
to  sign  the  call ;  and  when  an  opportunity  was 
afforded  for  the  male  communicants  to  express 
their  dissent,  out  of  three  hundred  entitled  to 
this  privilege,  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  gave 
in  their  names  as  dissentients,  and  all  expressed 
their  readiness  to  make  solemn  declaration  that 
they  were  actuated  by  no  factious  or  malicious 
motives,  but  solely  by  a  conscientious  regard  to 
the  spiritual  interests  of  themselves  and  the  con- 
gregation. The  Presbytery  declined  to  ordain 
Mr.  Young,  and  the  case  came  before  the  General 
Assembly.  Acting  in  obedience  to  the  directions 
of  the  Assembly,  the  Presbytery  in  1835  rejected 
Mr.  Young,  so  far  as  regarded  this  particular 
presentation.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  church, 
the  patron  and  his  presentee  brought  an  action 


142  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

against  the  Presbytery,  before  the  Supreme  Civil 
Court.  After  a  full  hearing,  the  court  decided 
that  the  Presbytery  had  acted  illegally,  and  in 
violation  of  their  duty,  and  contrary  to  the  pro- 
visions of  certain  statutes.  An  appeal  was  carried 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  which  sustained  the  deci- 
sion of  the  Court  of  Sessions.  Subsequently  Lord 
Kinnoul  and  Mr.  Young  raised  a  second  action 
against  the  Presbytery  of  Auchterarder,  to  recover 
damages,  laid  at  £16,000  (876,800),  by  way  of 
compensation  for  the  injury  sustained  by  the  patron 
and  presentee,  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Young's  re- 
jection. The  Court  of  Sessions  found  this  action 
relevant,  and  on  the  9th  of  August,  1842,  the  House 
of  Lords,  sitting  as  a  court  of  appeals,  confirmed 
the  judgment,  and  declared  that  damages  were 
recoverable  by  the  pursuers.  /A  variety  of  other 
cases  followed,  in  which  the  civil  courts,  sustained 
by  the  House  of  Lords,  assumed  the  entire  con- 
trol of  the  church  in  matters  purely  spiritual  and 
ecclesiastical.  To  enter  into  them  in  full  is  not 
necessary,  but  we  insert,  from  a  protest  drawn  up 
by  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  several  points  in  which  the 
civil  power  assumed  the  government  of  the  church. 

They  assumed,  — 

1.  That  the  courts  of  the  Church  by  law  estab- 
lished, and  members  thereof,  are  liable  to  be  co- 
erced by  the  civil  courts,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
spiritual  functions,  and  in  particular  in  the  ad- 


THE  FREE  CHURCH.  143 

mission  to  the  holy  ministry  and  the  constitution 
of  the  pastoral  relation,  and  that  they  are  subject 
to  be  compelled  to  intrude  ministers  on  the  re- 
claiming congregations,  in  opposition  to  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  church,  their  views 
of  the  Word  of  God,  and  to  the  liberties  of 
Christ's  people. 

2.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to 
interfere  with  and  interdict  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  and  administration  of  the  ordinances  as 
authorized  and  enjoined  by  the  church  courts 
of  the  Establishment. 

3.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to 
suspend  spiritual  censures,  pronounced  by  the 
church  courts  of  the  Establishment,  against  min- 
isters and  probationers  of  the  church,  and  to  in- 
terdict their  execution  as  to  spiritual  effects,  func- 
tions, and  privileges. 

4.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to  re- 
duce and  set  aside  the  sentences  of  the  church 
courts  of  the  Establishment  deposing  ministers 
from  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry,  and  depriving 
probationers  of  their  license  to  preach  the  gospel, 
with  reference  to  the  spiritual  status,  functions, 
and  privileges  of  such  ministers  and  probationers, 
restoring  them  to  the  spiritual  office  and  status 
of  which  the  church  courts  had  deprived  them. 

5.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to  de- 
termine on  the  right  to   sit   as  members  of  the 


144  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

supreme  and  other  judicatories  of  the  church  by 
law  established,  and  to  issue  interdicts  against 
sitting  and  voting  therein,  irrespective  of  the  judg- 
ment and  determination  of  said  judicatories. 

6.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to  su- 
persede the  majority  of  a  church  court  of  the  Es- 
tablishment, in  regard  to  the  exercise  of  its  spirit- 
ual functions  as  a  church  court,  and  to  authorize 
the  minority  to  exercise  the  said  functions,  in  op- 
position to  the  court  itself,  and  to  the  superior 
judicatories  of  the  Establishment. 

7.  That  the  said  civil  courts  have  power  to  stay 
processes  of  discipline  pending  before  courts  of  the 
church  by  law  established,  and  to  interdict  such 
courts  from  proceeding  therein. 

8.  That  no  pastor  of  a  congregation  can  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  church  courts  of  the  Establish- 
ment, and  allowed  to  rule  as  well  as  to  teach, 
agreeably  to  the  institution  of  the  office  by  the 
Head  of  the  church,  nor  to  sit  in  any  of  the  judi- 
catories of  the  church,  inferior  or  supreme,  and 
that  no  additional  provision  can  be  made  for  the 
exercise  of  spiritual  discipline  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  though  not  affecting  any  patri- 
monial interest,  and  no  alteration  introduced  in 
the  state  of  pastoral  superintendence  and  spirit- 
ual discipline  in  any  parish,  without  the  sanction 
of  a  civil  court. 

So  far  as  I  am  able  to  determine,  these  allcga- 


ivi  Aj 


THE  FREE  CHURCH.  145 

tions  are  sustained  by  the  facts  in  the  history  of 
the  case. 

"  All  which  jurisdiction  and  power,  on  the  part 
of  the  said  civil  courts "  (say  the  protest-ants) 
u  severally  above  specified,  whatever  proceedings 
may  have  given  occasion  to  its  exercise,  is  in  our 
opinion  in  itself  inconsistent  with  Christian  lib- 
erty, and  with  the  authority  which  the  Head  of 
the  church  lias  conferred  on  the  church  alone." 

Immense  efforts  were  made  by  Dr.  Chalmers 
and  the  leading  members  of  the  Established 
Church  to  prevent  a  collision.  Committee  after 
committee  visited  London  to  confer  with  the  min- 
istry and  the  most  prominent  members  of  parlia- 
ment Their  hopes  were  excited  both  by  the  Whig 
and  the  Tory  party,  but  all  were  destined  to  end 
in  utter  disappointment.  Both  ministry  and  par- 
liament were  inexorable.  Lords  Brougham  and 
Cottenham,  and  indeed  I  believe  all  the  law  lords, 
were  against  them,  holding  distinctly  that  the 
civil  power  had  this  authority  over  an  Established 
Church.  At  last  it  became  evident  that  those 
who  supported  the  doctrine  of  non-intrusion  must 
submit  the  church  to  the  will  of  the  civil  courts, 
in  matters  purely  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical,  or 
they  must  leave  the  church  and  resign  their  bene- 
fices.    They  at  once  chose  the  latter  alternative. 

The  fact  of  the  disruption  is  in  itself  so  inter- 
esting that  it  is  well  worth  insertion.  The  an- 
10 


146  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

nual  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  for  the 
year  1843  arrived^)  The  day,  May  18th,  came  for 
the  opening  of  the  Assembly,  and  all  Edinburgh 
was  thronged  with  visitors,  all  expecting  that  be- 
fore the  sun  should  set  some  act  involving  the 
clearest  interests  of  the  church  would  take  place. 
After  some  preliminary  proceedings,  Dr.  Welsh, 
the  moderator,  entered  and  took  the  chair.  Soon 
afterwards  his  Grace  the  Lord  High  Commis- 
sioner was  announced,  and  the  whole  Assembly 
rose  and  received  him  standing.  Solemn  prayer 
was  then  offered  up.  The  members  having  re- 
sumed their  seats,  Dr.  Welsh  rose.  By  the  eager 
pressure  forward,  the  "  Hush  !  hush  !  "  that  burst 
forth  from  so  many  lips,  the  anxiety  to  ^liear 
threatened  to  defeat  itself.  The  disturbance  lasted 
but  a  moment.  "  Fathers  and  brethren,"  said 
Dr.  Welsh,  —  and  now  every  syllable  fell  upon  the 
ear  amid  the  breathless  silence  that  prevailed, — 
"  according  to  the  usual  form  of  procedure,  this 
is  the  time  for  making  up  the  roll.  But  in  conse- 
quence of  certain  proceedings  affecting  our  rights 
and  privileges,  proceedings  which  have  been  sanc- 
tioned by  her  Majesty's  government  and  by  the 
legislature  of  the  country,  and  more  especially 
in  respect  that  there  has  been  an  infringement  on 
the  liberties  of  our  constitution,  so  that  we  could 
not  now  constitute  this  court  without  a  violation 
of  the  terms  of  union  between  church  and  state 


THE  FREE  CnURCII.  1-17 

in  this  land  as  now  authoritatively  declared,  I  pro- 
test against  our  proceeding  further.  The  reasons 
which  have  led  me  to  come  to  this  conclusion  are 
fully  set  forth  in  the  document  which  I  hold  in  my 
hand,  and  which,  with  the  permission  of  the  house, 
I  will  now  proceed  to  read."  After  reiterating 
the  injuries  which  had  led  to  the  present  crisis, 
he  closed  as  follows  :  "  We  protest  that  in  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  we  are  placed  it  is  and  shall 
be  lawful  for  us,  and  such  other  commissioners 
chosen  to  the  Assembly  appointed  to  have  been 
this  day  holclen  as  may  this  day  concur  with  us, 
to  withdraw  to  a  separate  place  of  meeting  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  steps  along  with  all  who 
adhere  to  us,  maintaining  with  us  the  confession 
of  faith  and  the  standards  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, for  separating  in  an  orderly  way  from  the 
Establishment,  and  therefore  adopting  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  competent  to  us,  in  humble  de- 
pendence on  God's  grace  and  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  for  the  advancement  of  his  glory,  the  ex- 
tension of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  Lord's 
house  according  to  his  holy  word ;  and  we  now 
withdraw  accordingly,  humbly  and  solemnly  ac- 
knowledging the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  the  things 
that  have  come  upon  us  because  of  our  manifold 
sins,  and  the  sins  of  our  church  and  nation ;  but 
at  the  same  time  with  assured  conviction  that  we 


1-18  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

are  not  responsible  for  any  consequences  that  may 
follow  from  this  our  enforced  separation  from  an 
Establishment  which  we  loved  and  prized,  through 
interference  with  conscience,  the  dishonor  done  to 
Christ's  crown,  and  the  rejection  of  his  sole  and 
supreme  authority  as  King  in  the  church." 

Having  finished  the  reading  of  this  protest,  Dr. 
Welsh  laid  it  on  the  table,  turned  and  bowed 
respectfully  to  the  Commissioner,  left  the  chair, 
and  proceeded  along  the  aisle  to  the  door  of  the 
church.  Dr.  Chalmers  had  been  standing  imme- 
diately on  his  left.  He  looked  vacant  and  ab- 
stracted while  it  was  being  read,  but  Dr.  Welsh's 
movement  awakened  him  from  his  revery.  Seiz- 
ing eagerly  his  hat,  he  hurried  after  him  with  all 
the  air  of  one  impatient  to  be  gone.  Mr.  Camp- 
bell of  Menzie,  Dr.  Gordon,  Dr.  Macfarlane,  Dr. 
McDonald  followed  him.  The  effect  upon  the 
audience  was  overwhelming.  At  first  a  cheer 
burst  forth  from  the  galleries,  but  it  was  almost 
instantaneously  and  spontaneously  restrained.  It 
was  felt  by  all  to  be  an  expression  of  feeling  un- 
suited  to  the  occasion.  It  was  checked  in  many 
cases  by  an  emotion  too  deep  for  any  other  utter- 
ance than  the  fall  of  sad  and  silent  tears.  The 
whole  audience  was  now  standing  gazing  in  still- 
ness upon  the  scene.  Man  after  man,  row  after 
row,  moved  all  along  the  aisle,  till  the  benches  on 
the  left,  lately  so  crowded,  showed  scarce  an  oc- 


THE  FREE  CHURCH.  149 

cupant.  More  than  four  hundred  ministers  and 
a  still  larger  number  of  elders  had  withdrawn. 
Thus  was  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland 
rent  in  twain,  and  the  Free  Church  called  into 
being. 

Lord  Jeffrey  was  sitting  reading  in  his  quiet 
room  when  one  burst  upon  him,  saying,  "  Well, 
what  do  you  think  of  it  ?  more  than  four  hundred 
of  them  are  actually  out."  The  book  was  flung 
aside,  and  springing  to  his  feet,  Lord  Jeffrey  ex- 
claimed, "I'm  proud  of  my  country !  There's 
not  another  country  upon  earth  where  such  a 
deed  could  have  been  done." 

The  non-intrusionists  at  once  repaired  to  a  large 
hall  that  had  been  previously  prepared,  and  im- 
mediately organized  themselves  into  a  General 
Assembly  by  choosing  Dr.  Chalmers  moderator  by 
acclamation.  They  proceeded  to  business  imme- 
diately, and  took  such  measures  as  were  necessary 
for  the  establishment  and  perpetuity  of  a  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Scotland.  They  continued  in 
session  about  a  fortnight,  engaged  in  deep  and 
earnest  deliberation,  and  their  proceedings  were 
marked  by  great  forethought,  determined  purpose, 
and  entire  unanimity. 

The  position  of  Dr.  Chalmers  on  this  occasion    ~"T 
was  such  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  man.     Here 
were  more  than  five  hundred  ministers  who  by 
one   act   had   relinquished   their   churches,   their 


150  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

houses  of  residence,  their  means  of  support,  and 
who  with  their  families  were  cast  helpless  on  the 
world.  Nor  was  this  all ;  they  had  incurred  the 
dislike  if  not  the  scorn  of  the  large  majority  of 
the  upper  classes,  who  could  not  possibly  under- 
stand the  principles  by  which  they  were  gov- 
erned. These  men  had  followed  Dr.  Chalmers 
because  they  believed  him  to  be  right,  and  still 
they  looked  to  him  as  their  truest  friend,  and  by 
far  their  most  powerful  advocate.  He  felt  the 
responsibility  of  his  situation  in  his  inmost  soul, 
and  though  worn  out  by  previous  labors,  and  of 
course,  like  the  rest  of  them,  deprived  of  his  office, 
he  threw  his  whole  being  into  the  cause.  It  was 
necessary  to  build  five  hundred  churches,  and  a 
manse  for  each,  to  raise  a  fund  to  aid  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  churches  which  then  were  feeble,  to 
erect  school-houses,  to  establish  a  college  and  the- 
ological seminary,  and  to  support  their  missions 
abroad.  The  undertaking  seemed  hopeless.  But 
few  of  the  rich  or  noble  were  his  friends,  or  the 
friends  of  the  undertaking.  Most  of  his  once 
cherished  associates  of  the  upper  classes  looked 
upon  him  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace,  and  almost 
as  a  rebel  against  the  government.  His  hope  was 
in  God,  who  does  not  desert  a  righteous  cause, 
and  on  the  middling  classes,  and  the  poor,  from 
whom  God  commonly  selects  his  chosen  ones. 
j    Before  the  disruption  took  place  Be  had  done 


the  free  cnuRcn.  151 

what  was  practicable  to  prepare  for  it.  The  fact 
that  five  hundred  ministers  for  conscience  sake  had 
made  such  sacrifices,  aroused  the  feeling  of  good 
men  everywhere,  and  specially  in  Scotland.  He 
was  appointed  convener  of  the  committee  on  the 
sustentation  fund,  and  before  the  close  of  the  first 
session  of  the  Assembly  he  was  able  to  report  that 
six  hundred  and  eighty-seven  associations  had  been 
formed  for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  were  in  full  operation,  and  had 
already  transmitted  to  the  treasury  £17,000  ($81,- 
600)  ;  and  he  added  that  if  the  remaining  associa- 
tions acted  with  the  same  liberality,  the  collections 
would  amount  to  £74,000  ($855,200)  per  year. 

In  one  week,  £  16,578  ($79,574)  had  been  col- 
lected from  associations,  for  the  fund  for  building 
churches,  which,  added  tov  the  larger  donations 
from  individuals  for  this  object,  made  previous 
to  the  disruption,  presented  a  no  less  sum  than 
£104,776  ($502,924)  already  available  for  the  use 
of  the  building  committee.  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
encouraged  by  this  beginning,  but  to  him  it  was 
only  the  beginning.  He  says,  "  We  shall  not  stop 
short,  I  trust,  in  our  great  and  glorious  enterprise, 
till,  in  language  you  have  already  heard,  the  light 
of  the  gospel  be  carried  to  every  cottage  door  within 
the  limits  of  the  Scottish  territory.  This  will  open 
a  boundless  field  for  the  liberality  of  our  Christian 
brethren  ;  a  bright  and  beautiful  ulterior  to  which 


1,52  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

every  eye  should  be  directed,  that  each  may  have 
in  full  view  the  great  and  glorious  achievement 
of  a  church  commensurate  with  the  land  in  which 
Ave  dwell ;  and  every  heart  be  animated  with  the 
magnificent  aim,  to  cover  it  with  the  requisite 
number  of  churches,  and,  with  God's  blessing  on 
the  means,  Christianly  to  educate,  and,  in  return 
for  our  performance  and  prayers,  to  Christianize 
the  whole  of  Scotland."  Thus  far-reaching  and 
expansive  were  his  views,  and  thus  did  the  great 
object  of  his  life  give  coloring  and  direction  to 
every  effort.  He  had  been  obliged,  for  con- 
science sake,  to  leave  the  Establishment ;  he  was 
laboring  to  organize  and  sustain  another  church 
which  had  grown  out  of  the  disruption  ;  but  also 
he  had  never  forgotten  the  object  to  which  in  early 
days  he  had  consecrated  his  life,  to  raise  to  their 
appropriate  level  the  degraded  masses  of  Scotland, 
by  carrying  the  gospel,  witli  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit,  to  every  family  of  the  land. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  Free  Church  the 
sufferings  of  many  of  the  ministers  were  extreme. 
These  were  all  borne,  however,  in  the  spirit  of  men 
who  chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  peo- 
ple of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for 
a  season.  To  relieve  their  distresses  Dr.  Chal- 
mers left  no  effort  unemployed.  He  seized  every 
opportunity  fbr  making  tours  over  Scotland,  and 
to  call  men  of  every  rank  to  their  aid.     At  the 


THE  FREE  CHURCH.  153 

next  annual  meeting  of  the  Free  Church  Assembly, 
the  reports  were  yet  more  encouraging.  The  mis- 
sionaries in  foreign  stations  had,  without  excep- 
tion, declared  their  adhesion  to  the  Free  Church. 
For  their  support  the  Free  Church,  in  addition  to 
her  other  expenditures,  appropriated  .£32,000 
($158,600),  a  sum  greater  by  £12,000  ($57,600) 
than  had  been  raised  by  the  undivided  church  the 
year  before  the  disruption.  In  the  first  year  of 
its  existence,  the  church,  which  at  its  commence- 
ment numbered  470  clergymen,  had  erected  500 
churches;  and  yet  the  work  of  church-building 
was  far  from  finished,  for  the  people  had  forsaken 
the  Establishment  in  a  much  higher  ratio  as  to 
numbers  than  the  ministers,  and  more  than  700 
churches  were  required  to  accommodate  the  con- 
gregations who  were  ready  to  attach  themselves 
to  the  Free  Church.  As  many  as  114  candidates 
had  been  ordained  in  the  course  of  the  year,  add- 
ing nearly  one-fourth  to  the  number  of  ministers. 
Setting  aside  the  generous  aid  rendered  by  stran- 
gers, upwards  of  £300,000  ($1,440,000)  had  been 
contributed  by  a  community  which  at  that  time 
could  not  embrace  so  much  as  one-third  of  the 
people  of  Scotland. 

In  1844,  Dr.  Chalmers  was  obliged  by  increas- 
ing infirmity  to  withdraw  from  public  labor  in 
the  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church.  He  however 
lived  to  witness  its    progress    to  the    close  of  its 

20 


154  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

fourth  year.  The  result  at  this  time  is  worthy 
of  the  deepest  consideration.  Here  was  a  Ohrife 
tian  community  not  of  the  wealthiest  classes,  upon 
which  470  clergymen  had  suddenly  been  thrown, 
and  which  had  not  only  accepted  and  fulfilled  the 
obligation  to  sustain  them,  but  in  four  years  had 
added  250  more  to  the  regular  ministry  which  it 
upheld.  At  a  cost  of  £450,000  (82,160,000)  it  had 
erected  churches  for  all  its  congregations,  and  in 
addition  to  this  had  subscribed  £100,000  ($480,- 
000)  to  build  manses  for  all  its  ministers.  It  had 
instituted  a  college  with  nine  professorships,  to  each 
of  which  a  salary  of  from  £300  ($1,440)  to  £400 
(81,920)  per  annum  was  attached.  It  had  340 
students  under  education  for  the  holy  office,  among 
whom  bursaries  and  scholarships  to  the  amount  of 
£700  (83,360)  had  been  distributed  in  a  single 
year.  By  one  effort  it  had  raised  £50,000  ($240,- 
000)  for  the  erection  of  500  school-houses,  and  it 
had  already  connected  with  it  about  600  schools, 
in  which  nearly  as  many  children  were  instructed 
in  the  ordinary  branches  of  education  as  were  in 
attendance  at  all  the  endowed  parochial  schools 
in  Scotland.  For  the  teaching  and  training  of 
schoolmasters  it  had  two  extensive  normal  estab- 
lishments, one  in  Glasgow,  the  other  in  Edin- 
burgh. At  home,  110  licentiates  and  116  cat- 
echists  were  engaged  in  the  spiritual  instruction 
of  the  people,  while  abroad  it  had  agents  in  every 


THE  FREE   CHURCH.  155 

quarter  of  the  habitable  globe.  At  Perth,  at  Jassy, 
at  Berlin,  at  Constantinople,  seventeen  mission- 
aries and  assistants  were  endeavoring  to  promote 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  At  Calcutta,  Madras, 
Bombay,  Puna,  and  Nagpur  it  supported  fifteen 
European  clergymen  ordained  as  missionaries, 
nine  converted  natives  engaged  in  the  work  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  and  a  large  band  of  teach- 
ers and  assistants,  both  native  and  European, 
from  whom  4,000  Indian  children  were  receiving 
a  complete  Christian  education.  In  Nova  Scotia, 
the  Canadas,  the  West  Indies,  the  Cape,  Aus- 
tralia, Madeira,  Malta,  Leghorn,  and  Gibraltar, 
there  were  ministers  supported  in  whole  or  in 
part  by  the  bounty  of  the  Free  Church,  while 
£1000  ($4,800)  per  annum  had  been  intrusted  to 
the  evangelical  societies  of  France  and  of  Geneva, 
to  aid  in  the  circulation  of  the  gospel  over  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe.  In  1847  the  Free  Church  raised 
for  educational  and  missionary  purposes  three  times 
as  much  as  the  United  Church  of  Scotland  did  in 
1843,  the  year  of  the  disruption.  It  had  contin- 
ued for  loTiT'years  to  yield  the  princely  revenue  of 
£300,000  (11,440,000),  and  in  that  short  period 
had  contributed  about  a  million  and  a  half  pounds 
to  the  Christian  cause.  All  this  was  done  by  a 
church  which  commenced  in  1843,  stripped  of 
everything  but  a  pure  conscience  and  a  solemn 
determination  to  lose  everything  rather  than  the 


156  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

favor  of  God.  I  do  not  know  that  the  history  of 
the  world  records  an  instance  of  more  noble  lib- 
erality, or  an  instance  in  which  simple  trust  in 
God  has  received  a  richer  and  more  signal  re- 
ward. Here  was  a  community  only  four  years 
old,  which  had  already  attained  the  standing  of 
an  old,  intelligent,  zealous,  and  most  successful 
church  of  Christ.  Of  the  part  which  Dr.  Chal- 
mers took  in  this  Herculean  work,  I  suppose 
Were  he  present  he  would  only  allow  us  to  say 
with  the  apostle,  "I  labored  more  abundantly 
than  they  all,  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God 
which  was  with  me." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

dr.  Chalmers's  labors  at  the  west  port. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  great  success  of 
Dr.  Chalmers  in  his  labors  for  the  Free 
Church,  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  re- 
sults. He  had  looked  at  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  Scotland,  and  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  its  gigantic  evils.  He  had  hoped 
to  arrest  a  general  decline  by  arousing  to  Christian 
action  the  whole  population.  To  accomplish  this 
purpose  he  had  commenced  the  effort  in  the  Es- 
tablished Church  to  multiply  churches,  and  thus 
to  scatter  thickly  over  the  land  the  means  of 
grace.  He  hoped  to  see  the  whole  of  Scotland 
divided  into  parishes  of  a  manageable  size,  and 
each  parish  subdivided  into  districts,  and  each 
district  confided  to  the  care  of  a  deacon,  elder, 
or  some  other  active  Christian,  who  should  estab- 
lish Sabbath  schools,  and  carry  the  gospel  to  every 
one  of  its  families.  It  was  a  noble  conception  and 
worthy  of  the  man.  He  was  proceeding  in  this 
work  with  his  characteristic  ardor,  and  had  al- 
ready reported  the  erection  of  222  churches,  when 
his  efforts  were  arrested  by  the  rise  of  the  non- 
157 


t 


158  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

intrusion  controversy.  He  found  that  he  might  be 
laboring  to  no  purpose.  He  at  once  asked  him- 
self, Of  what  use  will  it  be  to  multiply  churches, 
if  their  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  are  to 
be  governed,  not  by  the  New  Testament,  but  by 
the  arbitrary  decisions  of  the  Court  of  Session?. 
He  then  looked  to  the  Free  Church.  He  had 
been  obliged  for  conscience  sake  to  abandon  the 
Established  Church  and  take  the  lead  in  organ- 
izing one  which,  receiving  no  emolument  from 
the  state,  would  be  free  to  govern  itself  simply  by 
the  laws  of  the  gospel.  He  had  seen,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  as  many  as  700  churches  erected  for  the 
ministers  of  that  Church,  yet  these  were  but 
sparsely  scattered  over  the  moral  waste,  and  prob- 
ably their  faith  and  zeal  and  hope  were  far  differ- 
ent from  his.  They  were  so  much  engaged  in 
reorganizing  their  churches,  and  settling  down  to 
their  former  positions,  and  having  everything  ac- 
cording to  the  immemorial  usages  of  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland,  that  they  in  some  degree  forgot  their 
character  as  ministers  of  what  Dr.  Chalmers  glo- 
ried in  considering  a  missionary  church.  Besides, 
if  an  outsider  might  be  permitted  to  hazard  an 
opinion,  he  had  greatly  erred  in  the  principles 
which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the  sustentation 
fund.  It  was  so  managed  that  a  minister  might 
look  to  that  for  his  support,  instead  of  relyimg  on 
his  efforts,  by  the  aid  of  the  Spirit,  to  bring  under 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  159 

the  influences  of  the  gospel  the  impenitent  around 
him. 

What  then  was  Dr.  Chalmers  to  do?  To  the 
public  and  executive  labors  which  he  had  thus  far 
performed  he  felt  himself  wholly  unequal.  The 
great  object  of  his  life  had  not  been  realized,  nor 
did  he  perceive  those  tendencies  in  operation 
which  would  insure  its  accomplishment.  The  gos- 
pel for  all  the  families  of  Scotland  had  been  the 
motto  of  his  life.  He  could  no  more  surrender 
it  than  he  could  cease  to  exist.  If  his  general 
efforts,  though  apparently  successful,  had  not  ac- 
complished all  that  he  expected,  was  he  to  give 
up  the  work  in  despair  ?  That  was  not  the  nature 
of  the  man.  To  this  object  he  had  devoted  his 
life,  and  he  must  labor  at  it  till  death.  He  at 
once  looked  at  the  subject  from  an  opposite  point 
of  view.  What  could  not  be  done  in  the  mass, 
might  be  done  in  detail.  Though  he  could  not 
work  a  reformation  in  the  whole  of  Scotland,  he 
might,  by  the  grace  of  God,  do  it  for  a  particular 
and  definite  portion.  He  could  thus  show  what 
the  gospel  could  do,  if  brought  home  in  love  and 
faith  to  the  hearts  of  individual  men.  The  Chris- 
tian world  would  then  see  what  a  power  it  held 
in  its  hands,  and  might  also  learn  the  means  by 
which  this  power  is  to  be  exerted.  Pie  was  thus 
brought,  in  consequence  of  his  past  disappoint- 
ments, to  adopt  the  very  rule  which  the  Saviour 


100  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

has  made  known  for  the  extension  of  the  cause  of 
Christ:  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  leaven 
which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  until  the  whole  was  leavened"  We  know 
the  nature  of  this  process.  Each  atom  of  leaven  is 
brought  into  contact  with  a  particle  of  unleavened 
meal.  This  last  becomes  leavened,  and  it  affects 
the  atom  next  it,  and  thus  onward,  until  the  whole 
mass  becomes  leavened.  Preaching  is  good,  but  it 
may  be  so  performed  that  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  masses  ever  hear  it ;  so  that  few  of  those  who 
hear  understand  it ;  and  of  those  who  understand 
it,  a  still  smaller  portion  ever  dream  of  being  influ- 
enced by  its  utterances,  if  indeed  its  utterances  be 
of  such  a  nature  as  clearly  to  tend  to  any  practical 
result.  It  is  when  the  minister  simply  and  ear- 
nestly tells  men  of  their  clanger,  and  urges  them 
in  penitence  and  faith  to  accept  of  the  offers  of  the 
gospel,  and  carries  his  message  to  individuals  at 
their  homes,  and  when  each  of  his  brethren,  fol- 
lowing his  example,  leavens  the  mass  immediately 
around  him,  that  the  power  of  the  gospel  is  man- 
ifested. If  the  church  of  Christ  acted  everywhere 
on  this  principle,  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  would 
soon  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ, 

Dr.  Chalmers  determined  at  once  his  mode  of 
action.  Writing  to  a  friend  on  this  subject,  he 
says,  "  Indulge  me  if  I  feel  encouraged   to  state 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  1G1 

the  grievous  spiritual  destitution  of  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  in  all  our  large  towns  who 
are  utter  strangers  to  all  the  habitual  decencies  of 
a  Christian  land.  I  could  not  in  my  own  individ- 
ual strength,  even  though  aided  by  the  means  and 
energies  of  all  my  acquaintances,  ever  think  of 
coping  with  this  enormous  evil  en  masse,  or  in  all 
its  magnitude  and  entireness.  I  feel  very  confi- 
dent as  to  the  likeliest  steps  by  which,  piecemeal 
and  successively,  the  whole  even  of  this  great  and 
growing  evil  might  be  overtaken.  But  the  most 
that  I  can  personally  undertake  to  do  is,  to  work 
off  one  model  or  normal  specimen  of  the  process 
by  wliich  a  single  locality  might  be  reclaimed 
from  this  vast  and  desolate  wilderness ;  and  after 
the  confirmation  of  my  views  by  a  made-out  expe- 
rience of  this  sort,  pressing  it  on  the  imitation 
of  all  other  philanthropists  of  all  other  localities,  — 
such  do  I  hold  to  be  the  efficiency  of  the  method, 
with  the  divine  blessing,  that  perhaps^as  the  con- 
cluding act  of  my  public  life,  I  shall  make  the 
effort  to  exemplify  what  as  yet  I  have  only  ex- 
pounded. I  attach  to  this  enterprise  so  much 
importance,  that  now  I  have  done  all  I  can  for 
the  Free  Church  at  large,  I  mean  to  give  up  all 
general  business,  and  with  God's  help  will  devote 
my  remaining  strength  to  the  special  object  which 
I  have  now  explained." 

Preparatory  to  the  commencement  of  this  effort, 
11 


lbZ  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

he  delivered  four  public  lectures  in  Edinburgh,  in 
which,  with  all  the  freshness  of  his  youthful  daj^s, 
he  explained  the  principles  on  which  he  intended 
to  proceed,  and  especially  urged  the  importance  of 
building  a  place  of  worship  for  each  degraded  dis- 
trict. But  as  the  church  must  of  necessity  belong 
to  some  one  denomination,  and  as  under  his  care 
it  would  naturally  belong  to  the  Free  Church,  it 
might  seem  to  some  that  he  was  merely  laboring 
to  promote  the  extension  of  the  sect  with  which 
he  was  so  intimately  connected.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that,  rising  far  above  the  petty  distinc- 
tion of  rival  denominations,  he  uttered  with  the 
most  fervid   eloquence   these    memorable  words  : 

T^^YVho  cares  for  the  Free  Church  compared  with 
the  Christian  good  of  the  people  of  Scotland  ? 
Who  cares  about  any  church  but  as  an  instru- 
ment of  Christian  good  ?  for  be  assured,  that  the 
moral  and  religious  well-being  of  the  population 
is  of  infinitely  higher  importance  than  the  ad- 
vancement of  any  sect."  It  were  well  if  these 
sentiments  were  adopted  by  every  disciple  of 
Christ. 

Dr.  Chalmers  proceeded  to  select  a  portion  of 
Edinburgh,  which  should  present  the  most  deci- 
sive evidence  of  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  his  the- 
ory, and  the  practicableness  of  his  plans  of  reform. 
Some  years  since  the  whole  civilized  world  was 
startled  by  the  discovery  of  a  kind  of  atrocity  in 


LABORS  AT  WEST  POET.  1G3 

Edinburgh  that  had  never  before  been  heard  of. 
A  miscreant  by  the  name  of  Burk,  with  one  or 
two  associates,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  alluring  to 
their  den  vagrants,  whom  they  first  intoxicated 
and  then  murdered,  and  whose  bodies  they  then 
sold  to  surgeons  for  dissection.  A  crime  so  un- 
heard of,  thrilled  the  land  with  horror,  and  marked 
out  the  district  in  which  they  were  committed  as 
the  opprobrium  of  Christendom.  By  an  accurate 
survey,  it  was  found  that  the  main  street  and  its 
adjoining  wynds  contained  411  families  ;  of  which 
45  were  attached  to  some  Christian  communion, 
TO  were  Roman  Catholics,  and  29G  had  no  con- 
nection with  any  church  whatever.  Out  Of  a 
gross  population  of  2,000,  three-fourths  of  the 
whole,  or  about  1,500  of  the  inhabitants,  were  liv- 
ing within  the  sound  of  many  a  Sabbath  bell,  and, 
with  an  abundance  of  contiguous  church  accom- 
modation were  lost  to  all  the  habits  and  all  the  de- 
cencies of  a  Christian  life.  In  these  families  the 
number  of  children  capable  of  attending  school 
was  only  411,  and  of  these  290  were  growing  up 
altogether  untaught.  The  physical  and  moral 
condition  of  this  community  was  deplorable ;  one- 
fourth  were  paupers  on  the  poor  roll,  and  one- 
fourth  were  street  beggars,  thieves,  and  prosti- 
tutes. When  Mr.  Tasker,  who  was  afterwards 
their  minister,  made  his  first  visits  to  some  of  the 
filthiest  closes  (alleys),  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 


1G-4  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

for  him  to  find  from  twenty  to  thirty  men,  women, 
and  children  huddled  together  in  one  putrid  dwell- 
ing, lying  indiscriminately  on  the  floor,  waiting 
for  the  return  of  the  bearer  of  some  well-con- 
cocted begging  letter,  or  the  coming  on  of  that 
darkness  under  which  they  might  easily  sally  out 
to  earn  the  purchase-money  of  renewed  debauchery. 
On  one  occasion  he  entered  a  tenement  with  from 
twelve  to  twenty  apartments,  where  every  man  and 
woman  were  so  drunk  that  they  could  not  hear 
their  own  squalid  children  crying  in  vain  to  them 
for  food.  He  purchased  some  bread  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  entering  a  few  minutes  after  a  neigh- 
boring dram-shop,  he  found  a  half-drunk  mother 
driving  a  bargain  for  more  whiskey,  with  the  very 
bread  which  her  famishing  children  should  have 
eaten.  He  went  once  to  a  funeral  and  found  the 
assembled  company  all  so  drunk  around  the 
corpse  that  he  had  to  go  and  beg  some  sober 
neighbors  to  come  and  carry  the  coffin  to  the 
grave.  These  were  extreme  cases,  indicative,  how- 
ever, of  a  deep  and  general  moral  corruption. 
This  was  the  West  Port;  the  district  which  Dr. 
Chalmers  selected  as  the  place  in  which  he  might 
display  to  Christian  people  the  efficacy  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ. 

It  was  indeed  a  formidable  enterprise  ;  to  many 
it  would  have  seemed  altogether  hopeless,  to  come 
into  close  quarters  with  such  a  population.     Aid- 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.     ■  165 

ed,  however,  by  that  band  of  zealous  associates 
which  his  public  lectures,  and  the  many  private 
interviews  by  which  they  were  followed  up,  had 
gathered  around  him,  he  went  hopefully  forward. 

The  plan  of  operations  laid  down  by  him  was 
sufficiently  simple,  but  it  needed  zeal,  regularity, 
and  devoted  perseverence  to  carry  it  into  execu- 
tion. 

The  West  Port  was  divided  into  twenty  dis- 
tricts, containing  each  about  twenty  families.  Over 
each  of  these  districts  a  visitor  was  appointed, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  visit  once  a  week  all  the  fam- 
ilies committed  to  his  care,  by  all  such  attention 
and  services  as  he  could  offer  to  win  their  good-will 
and  by  reading  the  Scriptures,  and  distributing 
tracts,  by  entering  into  conversation,  and  by  engag- 
ing in  prayer,  to  promote,  as  fit  openings  were 
given,  their  spiritual  welfare.  A  printed  slip  drawn 
up  by  Dr.  Chalmers  was  to  be  left  in  every  house 
by  each  visitor,  explaining  the  object  of  his  pres- 
ent and  future  calls.  The  purpose  of  the  visitor 
is  thus  explained.  He  declares  that  his  main  rea- 
son for  visiting  them,  and  what  he  chiefly  seeks 
after,  is  the  good  of  never-dying  souls,  and  that 
he  feels  it  to  be  his  duty  to  seek  for  the  good  of 
theirs ;  that  the  rich  and  the  poor  are  too  widely 
separated,  and  he  desires  by  kind  offices  to  render 
them  more  acquainted  with  each  other ;  that  he 
desires  the  education  of  their  families,  and  that  a 


1G6  MEMOIR    OF   DR     CHALMERS. 

good  school  will  soon  be  opened  for  their  children, 
and  as  the  gospel  is  needed  for  all,  a  church  for 
their  own  use  will  soon  be  erected  among  them, 
and  Sunday  schools  on  Sunday  evenings  estab- 
lished for  them  and  their  children ;  and,  lastly, 
that  in  this  work  for  their  good  he  expects  them 
to  be  co-workers  with  him,  and  that  those  who  do 
not  need  his  aid  will  unite  with  him  in  extending 
aid  to  others. 

The  arrangements  were  thus  made,  the  visitors 
engaged,  the  districts  defined,  and  the  work  of 
visiting  commenced.  Which  department  of  this 
multiform  and  varied  aggregation  of  wickedness 
and  pollution  should  be  attacked  first?  for  Dr. 
Chalmers  intended  in  the  course  of  his  labors  to 
attack  it  all,  and  render  the  reformation  thorough. 
As  the  demand  for  education  precedes  that  for 
spiritual  instruction,  he  determined  as  a  first  step 
to  open  a  school  somewhere  in  the  West  Port,  and 
the  visitors  were  advised  to  pay  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  children,  and  to  persuade  the  parents 
to  send  their  children  to  the  school  which  would 
ere  long  be  opened  in  some  convenient  place. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  plan  there  were  two 
points  to  which  he  attached  special  importance. 
To  protect  the  purity  of  the  enterprise,  he  was  most 
anxious  that  his  agents  should  not  become  almo- 
ners, and  should  dispense  as  little  money  as  pos- 
sible among  the  poor.     In  illustration  of  his  views, 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  167 

he  related  his  own  experience.  When  he  under- 
took his  visitation  of  the  Tron  parish,  he  at  once 
plunged  into  the  regions  where  wretchedness  and 
misery  abounded.  "What  surprised  him  most  was  the 
apparent  interest  and  cordiality  with  which  he  was 
received.  There  was  even  a  competition  for  him, 
each  one  wanting  him  to  come  to  their  own  house. 
"  But  I  soon  found,"  says  he,  "  that  I  was  thought 
to  have  great  influence  in  the  city  charities,  and 
I  found  that  this  was  the  subject  which  they  con- 
stantly broached,  whenever  they  got  me  into  their 
houses.  I  saw  that  this  would  vitiate  my  influ- 
ence among  them.  I  saw  that  it  would  never  do 
if  I  were  to  go  among  them  first  as  a  dispenser 
of  temporal  good  things,  and  then  as  urging  upon 
them  the  things  which  make  for  their  everlasting 
peace.  I  felt  the  want  of  compatibility  between 
the  two  objects,  and  I  determined  to  cut  my  con- 
nection with  them  all.  I  let  the  people  under- 
stand that  I  dealt  only  in  one  article,  and  that  if 
they  valued  the  advantages  of  Christian  instruc- 
tion, they  were  welcome  to  all  that  I  could  do  for 
them.  Thus  I  disabused  them  of  the  notion  that 
I  had  an  inexhaustible  treasury  to  dispose  of,  and, 
if  it  was  necessary,  let  them  know  that  if  I  did  any- 
thing pecuniarily  for  them,  it  must  be  at  my  own 
expense,  and  I  was  not  very  rich.  The  effect  of 
this  frankness  between  me  and  the  people  was, 


1G8  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

that,  if  there  was  any  difference,  they  received  me 
more  cordially  than  ever." 

Dr.  Chalmers  carried  this  principle  throughout 
with  unflinching  tenacity  of  purpose.  He  said, 
"  Besides,  I  had  an  elder,  a  person  of  great  benev- 
olence, but  not  so  discriminating  in  this  respect 
as  I  should  have  liked.  When  I  instituted  the 
Sabbath-school  system,  it  was  reported  to  me  that 
he  was  devising,  and  had  gone  a  considerable 
length  in  forming  a  local  Sabbath-school  clothing 
society,  for  the  parish  of  St.  Johns.  '  Sir,'  said  I 
to* him,  'your  society  will  blast  our  Sabbath-school 
enterprise.  I  wish  to  have  1,200  scholars  ;  do  }rou 
mean  to  clothe  all  these  ?  '  '  No,'  said  he,  '  only 
the  most  necessitous.'  'Well,'  said  I,  'but  all 
these  will  wait  their  turn  to  be  clothed,  and  we 
shall  get  no  more  than  a  fraction.  My  object  is 
that  they  should  come  with  the  clothes  they  have 
on  ;  so  do  not  embarrass  us  with  your  society.'  I 
accordingly  got  the  society  knocked  on  the  head. 
You  may  go  forth  with  perfect  safety,  having  this 
inscription  on  the  front  of  your  enterprise.  Ed- 
ucation for  all;  but  what  would  be  the  effect  if 
you  were  to  go  forth  with  this  inscription,  Money 
or  meat  for  all.  If  you  go  forth  with  that  inscrip- 
tion, it  will  require  but  little  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  people,  by  a  trifle  more  of  dissipation  or  of 
indolence,  to  qualify  themselves  for  relief  in  that 
way." 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  169 

In  the  second  place,  he  was  strenuously  opposed 
to  the  proposition  to  make  the  education  gratuitous. 
"  I  do  not  think,"  said  he  to  his  visitors,  "  that  you 
will  accomplish  any  permanent  good  for  the  popu- 
lation, unless  you  enlist  them  as  fellow-workers  in, 
or  at  least  as  fellow-contributors  to,  the  cause.  I 
think  that  the  great  and  radical  error  in  the  man- 
agement of  our  population  has  just  proceeded  from 
the  idea,  that  they  are  utterly  helpless  and  unable 
to  do  anything  for  themselves.  I  want  to  train  up 
the  families  in  the  sentiment  that  education  is 
worth  its  price,  and  win  them  to  the  paying  of  that 
price.  I  am  unfriendly  to  gratuitous  education, 
nor  do  I  wish  that  any  of  our  agents  or  the  people 
themselves  shall,  in  the  imagination  of  our  indefi- 
nite resources,  look  for  any  relaxation  of  this  system. 
The  lesson  which  I  am  continually  giving  out  is, 
that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  do  aught  which  is  per- 
manently effectual  for  the  people's  good,  unless 
they  will  lend  a  hand,  and  do  something  for  them- 
selves." 

Dr.  Chalmers  held  his  first  regular  meeting  with 
his  agents  in  Portsburgh  Hall,  an  old  court-house 
within  the  bounds  of  the  West  Port,  on  Satur- 
day evening,  July  27,  1844.  Having  made  their 
weekly  round  among  the  families,  the  visitors  were 
to  assemble  here  every  Saturday  evening,  to  give 
in  their  reports,  and  to  converse  together  about  the 
most  effectual  method  of  carrying  on  the  enterprise 


170  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

upon  which  they  had  fairly  embarked.  At  these 
meetings  Dr.  Chalmers  presided,  and  when  pi\  - 
vented  by  illness  from  attending,  he  addressed 
notes  to  the  chairman.  In  these  he  expresses  his 
interest  in  the  object  as  greater  than  even  in  that 
of  the  general  church  committees,  and  declares  that 
he  never  can  abandon  it  until  obliged  by  absolute 
necessity.  He  asks  to  see  the  minutes  made  dur- 
ing his  necessary  absence,  and  on  reading  them 
expresses  his  joy  at  the  progressive  liking  which  they 
feel  for  the  families  of  their  respective  districts. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  for  the  opening  of  a 
school.  But  where  was  a  room  to  be  obtained  ? 
The  only  place  which  could  be  secured  was  one 
at  the  end  of  the  very  close  down  which  Burk  and 
his  associates  had  dragged  their  unconscious  vic- 
tims. Fronting  that  close,  in  which  those  horrid 
murders  had  been  committed,  stood  an  old  de- 
serted tannery,  whose  upper  store  loft,  approached 
from  without  by  a  flight  of  projecting  wooden 
stairs,  was  selected  as  affording  the  best  accommo- 
dation that  the  neighborhood  could  supply.  Low- 
roofed  and  roughly-floored,  its  raw,  unplastered 
walls,  pierced  at  irregular  intervals  with  windows 
of  unshapely  form,  it  had  little  either  of  the  scho- 
lastic or  ecclesiastical  in  its  aspect ;  but  never  was 
the  true  work  of  the  school  or  the  church  done 
better  than  in  that  old  tannery-loft  of  the  West 
Port. 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  171 

Dr.  Chalmers  invited  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighborhood  to  meet  him  there,  on  Wednesday, 
Nov.  6.  By  this  time  the  frequent  calls  of  the 
visitors  had  awakened  a  general  curiosity,  and  the 
invitation  was  accepted,  the  loft  presenting  a  larger 
assembly  of  what  he  called  genuine  West  Porters 
than  he  had  met  together  for  many  years.  Acting 
upon  the  saying  of  Talleyrand,  that  "  there  is 
nothing  formidable  in  meeting  with  the  very  low- 
est of  the  people,  if  you  only  treat  them  frankly," 
Dr.  Chalmers  told  them  all  that  he  and  his  friends 
intended  to  do  for  them,  and  what  he  expected 
them  to  do  for  themselves.  He  told  them,  in 
homely  but  vigorous  terms,  that  a  school  was  to 
be  opened  for  their  children,  and  that  one  of  the 
best  teachers  in  the  country  had  been  obtained  for 
it,  but  that  they  must  pay  two  pence  a  week  for 
each  child's  education  ;  that  the  article  they  were 
to  be  supplied  with  was  worth  a  great  deal  more 
than  that,  and  that  they  were  quite  able,  and  he 
was  sure  would  be  quite  willing,  to  pay  that  much 
for  it.  The  audience  were  quite  delighted  with 
the  address,  and  quite  persuaded  that  they  both 
should  and  could  do  all  that  was  required. 

The  school  was  opened  with  64  day  scholars  and 
57  evening  scholars,  Nov.  11th,  1844,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  single  year  no  fewer  than  250  were  in 
attendance,  and  chiefly  from  West  Port. 

The  educational  part  of  the  process  having  been 


172  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

thus  fairly  sot  agoing,  the  higher  and  more  diffi- 
cult operation  of  bringing  the  adult  part  of  the 
population  under  regular  spiritual  instruction  was 
•commenced.  On  the  forenoon  of  Sabbath,  Dec. 
22d,  Dr.  Chalmers  opened  the  tannery-loft  for 
public  worship.  In  the  evening,  however,  when 
the  city  missionary  preached,  the  whole  fruit  of  all 
the  visits,  advices,  and  entreaties,  that  had  been 
lavished  upon  them,  was  an  audience  of  about  a 
dozen  adults,  mostly  old  women.  The  prospect 
was  sufficiently  discouraging.  The  services  were, 
however,  regularly  continued  thrice  in  each  Sab- 
bath, and  the  private  agencies  were  renewed.  In 
April,  1845,  Dr.  Chalmers  was  so  fortunate  as  to 
secure  the  services  of  Rev.  Mr.  Tasker,  a  gentle- 
man eminently  fitted  for  the  station  ;  the  attend- 
ance grew  under  his  ministry,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  year  the  nucleus  of  a  good  congregation  began 
to  appear. 

The  scheme,  however,  was  obviously  working  at 
a  disadvantage  so  long  as  an  apartment  so  diffi- 
cult of  access,  and  so  rudely  fitted  up,  formed  at 
once  the  school-room  and  the  church.  Ground 
therefore  was  purchased,  and  all  other  needful 
steps  taken,  for  the  erection,  within  the  West  Port, 
of  a  church  and  a  school-room.  Meanwhile,  under 
the  zealous  ministry  of  Mr.  Tasker,  and  with  the 
aid  of  those  ladies  and  gentlemen  who,  with  the 
utmost  devotedness,  gave  themselves  to  the  work, 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  173 

all  the  different  operations  which  the  good  of  the 
population  required  were  carried  on :  a  library,  a 
savings  bank,  a  washing  house,  and  a  female  in- 
dustrial school,  were  all  established  and  all  suc- 
ceeded. Dr.  Chalmers  preached  frequently  in  the 
loft,  addressed  several  meetings  of  the  inhabitants, 
to  explain  to  them  the  different  parts  of  the  scheme 
as  they  were  successively  instituted,  presided  at 
many  of  the  agents'  meetings,  and  was  in  fact  the 
central  spring  that  set  the  whole  machinery  in 
motion. 

There  may  have  been  other  works  of  his  hands 
on  which  a  larger  amount  of  labor  was  bestowed, 
but  there  was  none  over  which  so  many  prayers 
were  offered.  In  his  "Horse  Sabbaticae,"  in  which 
on  the  Sabbath  day  he  utters  the  deepest  feelings 
of  his  soul,  he  frequently  makes  mention  of  the 
work  at  West  Port  as  one  of  those  which  laid  near- 
est to  his  heart.  His  prayers  for  this  object  are 
such  as  these  :  "  Moving  fearlessly  onward,  may  I 
obtain  such  possession  of  the  West  Port  as  that  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  shall  have  the  moral  ascend- 
ency over  a  goodly  number  of  its  families.  Let 
me  not  forget  the  conquests  of  thine  all-subduing 
grace,  and  the  preservations  of  thy  faithful  servants 
in  the  history  of  the  missions  of  other  clays.  And 
in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  work,  let  it  be  my  care 
to  follow  thee  fully ;  neither  let  me  go  up  thither 
unless  thy  presence  and  favor  go  along  with  me. 


174  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

We  would  give  thee  no  rest  until  thou  hast  opened 
the  windows  of  heaven  and  caused  righteousness  to 
run  down  that  street  like  a  mighty  river  ;  and  let 
such  a  memorial  of  Christian  philanthropy  be  set 
up  in  that  place,  as  to  be  a  praise  and  example 
both  in  the  city  of  our  habitation,  and  in  the  other 
cities  of  our  land." 

Again,  "  0  my  God,  give  me  the  power  of  order- 
ing matters  aright  in  the  West  Port;  let  all  be 
peace  and  harmony,  and  no  confusion  there.  Direct 
all  my  footsteps  in  that  undertaking,  and  may  I  more 
and  more  be  made  to  abound  in  such  suggestions 
as  thy  Spirit  will  prompt  and  approve  of.  Let  me 
keep  all  the  impulses  of  my  own  spirit  under  the 
subjection  of  a  presiding  and  circumspect  wisdom. 
And  more  especially,  0  God,  let  me  understand 
thy  will  in  regard  to  the  right  plan  and  perform- 
ances of  a  female  agency.  May  their  work  be 
abundantly  blessed  and  countenanced  from  on 
high,  and  have  a  happy  effect  on  the  families.  Let 
me  beware  of  mine  being  too  much  of  a  restraining 
authority,  and  let  me  seek  that  all  things  be  done 
to  edification,  and  all  things  be  done  decently  and 
in  order." 

Again,  "  Bestow  upon  me  in  larger  measure  and 
proportion  the  grace  which  thou  didst  so  plentifully 
bestow  upon  the  churches  of  Macedonia.  Let  it 
spread  abroad  more  and  more  among  the  sadly  de- 
ficient congregations  of  our  Free  Church.     Do  thou 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  175 

begin  it  even  now  among  the  families  of  the  West 
Port.  Make  them  willing  in  the  day  of  thy  power, 
that  abounding  in  all  that  is  good,  they  may  abound 
in  this  grace  also.  It  is  still  bnt  a  day  of  small 
things ;  Oh,  do  thou  brighten  it  onward  even  until 
the  latter-day  glory.  Cause  the  poorest  to  take 
part  in  the  fellowship  of  Christian  charity." 

Again,  "  And  I  pray  not  for  myself  alone,  but  for 
him  that  labors  in  holy  things  among  the  families 
of  the  West  Port.  Prosper,  0  Lord,  his  medita- 
tions on  thy  holy  Word.  Let  me  ever  rejoice  in 
the  endowments  which  thou  hast  pleased  to  bestow 
upon  him ;  do  thou  guide  and  encourage  him,  0 
Lord.  May  he  be  enabled  to  wait  upon  thee  with- 
out distraction,  and  let  him  so  minister  that  not 
only  his  own  profiting,  but  the  profiting  of  those 
under  his  charge,  may  appear  unto  all.  Oh,  may 
he  not  only  be  saved  himself,  but  may  he  be  the 
instrument  of  salvation  to  many,  and  may  both  he 
and  I  be  carried  in  safety  and  at  length  with  tri- 
umph to  that  prosperous  consummation  for  which 
we  are  jointly  laboring." 

These  Christian  efforts  from  time  to  time  pro- 
duced a  gradually  increasing  effect.  As  the  results 
began  more  visibly  to  appear,  the  efforts  of  Chris- 
tian friends  were  redoubled.  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
supplied  not  only  with  funds  to  build  a  church  and 
a  school-room,  but  to  purchase  and  fit  up  a  tene- 
ment of  houses  as  model-houses  for  working-men, 


176  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

in  which,  at  a  low  rent,  additional  means  of  clean- 
liness and  comfort  were  enjoyed.  He  could  begin 
to  appeal  tp  what  had  already  been  done,  to  mani- 
fest what  could  be  accomplished  in  other  places 
by  the  use  of  the  same  means.  "  If,"  said  he, 
"  the  hundreds  of  Christian  philanthropists  in 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  and  the  thousands  in 
London,  were,  in  little  separate  bands,  to  select  their 
•respective  localities,  and  do  the  same  thing,  a 
single  decade  of  years  might  not  pass  away  with- 
out our  being  landed  in  the  blessed  result  of  a 
better  and  happier  generation." 

At  last,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1847,  the  West 
Port  church  was  opened  for  public  worship  by 
Dr.  Chalmers,  and  on  the  25th  of  April  he  pre- 
sided at  the  first  sacrament  administered  within 
its  walls.  On  the  following  Monday,  he  said  to 
Mr.  Tasker,  "I  have  now  got  the  desire  of  my 
heart.  The  church  is  finished,  the  schools  are 
flourishing,  our  ecclesiastical  machinery  is  about 
complete,  and  all  in  good  working  order.  God 
has  indeed  heard  my  prayer,  and  I  could  noiv  lay 
down  my  head  and  die  in  peace."  On  the  next  clay 
lie  wrote  to  Mr.  Lennox,  of  New  York,  as  follows : 
"  I  wish  to  communicate  to  you  what  to  me  is  the 
most  joyful  event  of  my  life.  I  have  been  intent 
for  thirty  years  on  the  completion  of  a  territorial 
experiment,  and  I  have  now  to  bless  God  for  the 
consummation  of  it.     Our  church  was  opened  on 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT.  177 

the  19th  of  February*,  and  in  one  month  my  anx- 
ieties respecting  an  attendance  have  been  set  at 
rest.  Five-sixths  of  the  sittings  have  been  let, 
but  the  best  part  of  it  is,  that  three-fourths  of 
these  are  from  the  West  Port,  a  locality  which 
two  years  ago  had  not  one  in  ten  church-goers 
from  the  whole  population.  I  presided  there  on 
Sabbath  last  over  its  first  sacrament.  There  were 
132  communicants,  and  100  of  them  were  from 
the  West  Port." 

Scarcely  two  years  had  elapsed,  and  yet  how 
great  was  the  transformation !  When  the  work 
began,  the  number  attending  all  the  places  of  wor- 
ship did  not  exceed  one-eighth  of  the  whole  pop- 
ulation. In  the  new  church,  300  sittings  were 
taken  as  soon  as  it  was  opened,  and  100  were  ad- 
mitted to  tha  first  communion.  When  the  work 
began,  of  those  capable  of  education  three-fourths 
were  not  at  school ;  already,  the  ratio  had  been 
reversed,  and  three-fourths  were  in  regular  attend- 
ance. Many  of  these  children  were  of  the  poorest 
class,  yet  school-fees,  amounting  in  the  aggregate 
to  upward  of  £10  per  annum,  had  been  cheerfully 
and  gratefully  paid  by  their  parents.  The  change 
was  beginning  to  show  itself  in  the  outward  ap- 
pearance of  the  inhabitants.  He  says, "  We  have  no 
recollection  of  anything  so  sudden  as  the  trans- 
ition in  the  aspect  of  these  girls,  from  the  time  of 
their  first  raggedness  as  they  were  found  running 

12 


178  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

about  the  streets  in  that  destitute  locality,  to  the 
personal  cleanliness  and  respectability  which  they 
now  exhibit.  Their  appearance,  indeed,  is  alto- 
gether delightful.  The  boys  have  not  made  so 
large  an  advance  as  the  girls ;  but  altogether  the 
schools  present  a  most  attractive  and  delightful 
spectacle.  When  we  recollect  that  these  poor 
people  have  all  the  capacities  of  human  spirits, 
that  they  have  talents,  that  they  have  imperishable 
souls,  that  they  arc  on  a  full  level  of  equality  with 
ourselves  in  all  that  is  essential  to  man,  and  that  we 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  go  and  do  them  justice, 
and  to  give  Tip  the  shameful  neglect  which  we  have 
indulged  toward  the  lower  classes  for  half  a  centu- 
ry,—  I  would  say  for  almost  a  whole  century,  —  it 
is  not  to  be  told  to  what  a  height  of  advancement 
morally,  intellectually,  and  economically  they  are 
capable  of  being  raised,  even  in  the  present  gen- 
eration." 

This  opening  of  the  church  at  West  Port,  and 
the  administration  of  the  communion  there,  were 
among  Dr.  Chalmers's  last  public  acts.  The  com- 
munion was  in  April ;  on  the  30th  of  the  follow- 
ing May  he  was  called  to  receive  his  reward.  God 
permitted  him  to  witness  the  commencement  of 
the  realization  of  his  fondest  hopes.  He  saw  this 
lisgusting  wilderness  beginning  to  blossom  like 
the  rose,  and  fruit  first  appearing  from  the  seed 
which  he  had  sown  with  many  tears  and  prayers  ; 
and  having  seen  this  he  fell  asleep. 


LABORS  AT  WEST  PORT  179 

There  were  some  who  not  unnaturally  feared 
that  his  removal  would  be  fatal  to  the  success  of 
this  great  moral  experiment  which  he  had  orig- 
inated, and  with  such  self-denying  effort  labored 
to  carry  to  completion.  But  it  was  not  so.  After 
five  years,  under  the  admirable  management  of 
Mr.  Tasker,  each  year  has  witnessed  an  advanc- 
ing progress.  In  its  educational  department  the 
work  is  complete.  In  the  different  male  and 
female  day  and  evening  schools,  between  400  and 
500  children  are  in  attendance ;  nor  is  it  known 
that  there  is  a  single  child  of  a  family  resident 
within  the  West  Port  that  is  not  at  school.  Of 
what  other  like  district  in  this  country  could  the 
same  be  said,  and  by" what  other  instrumentality 
could  it  have  been  accomplished  ?  It  was  the  dis- 
trict-visiting, and  the  zeal  especially  of  those  la- 
dies by  whom  a  special  oversight  of  the  children's 
regular  attendance  at  school  was  undertaken,  by 
which  this  great  achievement  has  been  mainly 
accomplished.  The  habit  of  church  attendance 
has  become  as  general  and  regular  within  the 
West  Port  as  it  is  in  the  best  conditioned  districts 
of  Edinburgh.  The  church  is  filled  to  overflow- 
ing ;  and  while  these  pages  (the  Memoir  by  Dr. 
Hanna)  are  going  through  the  press,  the  people 
of  the  West  Port,  who  among  themselves  contrib- 
uted no  less  than  £100  for  the  building  of  this 
church  at  first,  are  contributing  at  an  equal  rate 


180  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

for  the  erection  of  a  gallery.  During  the  last 
year,  besides  meeting  all  the  expenses  necessary 
for  the  support  of  Christian  ordinances,  amount- 
ing to  nearly  £250  (81,200),  the  West  Port  con- 
gregation has  contributed  £70  (8336)  to  mission- 
ary and  educational  objects. 

At  the  same  cost,  adds  Dr.  Hanna,  among  the 
same  class,  within  the  same  limits,  and  during  the 
same  time,  there  never  have  been  accomplished, 
in  this  or  any  other  land,  anything  like  the 
same  educational  and  spiritual  results.  It  stands 
the  only  instance  in  which  the  depth  of  city  igno- 
rance and  vice  have  been  sounded  to  the  very 
bottom  ;  nor  can  the  possibility  of  cleaning  the 
foul  basement  story  of  our  social  edifice  be  doubt- 
ed any  longer.  How  the  spirit  of  the  departed 
would  have  rejoiced  had  he  lived  to  witness  what 
the  West  Port  now  presents,  and  how  gladly  would 
he  have  hailed  every  token  that  the  lessons  given 
forth  thereby  were  not  likely  to  be  lost.  We  know 
how  willingly  he  would  have  seen  every  other 
thought  of  his  heart  and  every  other  work  of  his 
hands  perish  from  the  remembrance  of  his  fellows, 
if  only  the  guiding  light  were  followed,  which  this 
example  furnished,  as  the  best  method  of  raising 
the  sunken  millions  of  our  fellow-countrymen  to 
a  higher  level  of  character  and  comfort  on  earth, 
and  preparing  them  for  glory,  honor,  and  immor- 
tality hereafter. 


CHAPTER    X. 

PERSONAL   CHARACTER  —  DEATH. 

AVING-  thus  briefly  related  some  of  the 
most  important  facts  in  Dr.  Chalmers's  his- 
tory, it  seems  proper,  in  conclusion,  to  pre- 
sent some  of  the  traits  of  his  personal  char- 
acter. 

Of  the  intellectual  gifts  of  Dr.  Chalmers  it  is 
needless  here  to  speak.  There  are  few;  writers  of 
the  age  whose  productions  are  so  voluminous,  or 
on  a  greater  variety  of  subjects,  or  so  universally 
read  and  admired.  In  early  life,  he  was  highly 
distinguished  for  his  love  of  the  mathematics,  and 
his  successful  prosecution  of  them.  His  attain- 
ments in  all  the  branches  of  natural  philosophy, 
especially  of  chemistry,  were  equally  remarkable. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  lectured  on  mathematics  and 
chemistry  at  St.  Andrews  with  high  reputation  when 
quite  a  young  man,  while  minister  hi  Kilmany. 
Indeed,  his  mind  seemed  to  turn  in  obedience 
to  his  will  to  any  subject  that  presented  itself, 
and  it  grasped  almost  every  subject  with  equal 
success,  —  one  of  the  surest  evidences  of  the  high- 
est type  of  human  genius. 

181 


182  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  elements  of 
his  character  was  what  I  may  perhaps  denominate 
a  universal  and  tenderly  susceptible  sympathy 
with  everything  that  lives.  He  loved  nature  in 
all  her  aspects  with  intense  affection,  and  he 
seemed  to  become  almost  a  part  of  everything 
he  loved.  "It  is,"  said  he  once,  "a  curious  faculty 
that  I  have  of  magnifying  things.  Now  I  find  no 
difficulty  in  looking  at  this,"  a  little  tuft  of  tree- 
moss  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  "  as  if  I  were  an 
animalcule  living  there  within  it,  and  these  little 
fibres  a  great  pine  forest  with  fine  green  mounds 
in  it."  As  we  may  suppose,  his  love  of  scenery 
was  intense ;  from  the  least  to  the  greatest  it  all 
delighted  and  excited  him.  In  his  garden  he  took 
great  pleasure,  noticing  every  change  with  almost 
the  freshness  and  pleasure  of  a  child.  Coming 
into  the  house  one  day,  he  said  to  his  daughters, 
"  It's  a  noble  instrument,  a  garden.  I  have  just 
counted  all  the  things  in  flower  in  all  the  walks, 
and  there  are  just  320."  He  was  always  the  first 
to  bring  in  the  first  snowdrop  of  the  season,  of 
which  flower  he  was  passionately  fond.  The  writer 
well  remembers  walking  with  him  through  the 
Edinburgh  Botanical  Garden,  and  the  earnestness 
with  which  he  expatiated  on  the  peculiar  beauty 
or  the  remarkable  physical  peculiarities  of  the 
most  noteworthy  plants  that  came  within  our 
view. 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  —  DEATH.  183 

But  Hj^as— the  scenery  of  England  and  Scot- 
land in  which  he  particularly  revelled.  His  vaca- 
tions were  generally  spent-in-travelling,  and  in  his 
journeys  he  selected  not  the  most  direct  but  the 
most  picturesque  routes.  On  one  of  his  excur- 
sions he  said  to  a  friend  that  he  intended  to  accom- 
plish the  resolution  which  he  had  formed,  of  tak- 
ing a  view  of  the  country  from  the  steeple  of  every 
cathedral  in  England.  The  views  remarkable  for 
beauty  or  sublimity  which  came  within  his  reach 
1.  ■  sought  after  without  regard  to  fatigue,  or  any 
form  of  personal  annoyance.  And  it  was  his 
habit  to  find  out  every  spot  of  singular  beauty  in 
the  vicinity  of  his  residence,  and  he  could  never 
be  at  ease  until  he  had  led  his  visitors  from  abroad 
to  admire  the  scenery  in  which  he  took  so  much 
delight.  And  what  is  the  more  to  be  remarked, 
these  scenes  which  he  gazed  upon  with  absorbing 
delight  seemed  engraved  on  his  recollection  for- 
ever. The  effect  of  this  habit  is  very  manifest  in 
his  style.  It  furnished  him  with  unlimited  rich- 
ness of  illustration,  and  enlivened  every  descrip- 
tion of  nature  with  a  graphic  vividness  which  is 
rarely  to  be  found  in  the  same  degree  in  any  other 
writer.  His  hearers  seem  unconsciously  to  be 
transported  to  the  very  scene  which  he  describes ; 
they  see  with  his  eyes,  they  hear  with  his  ears, 
and  they  sympathize  with  him  in  the  intense  emo- 
tion  which   seemed    almost    to    overmaster   him. 


184  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CTIALMERS. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  his  works  will  read- 
ily remember  the  vivid  and  life-like  character 
which  this  peculiarity  impresses  upon  several  of 
his  finest  passages. 

But  this  mysterious  element  of  sympathy  was 
exhibited  in  its  greatest  power  in  his  relations 
with  humanity.  His  love  for  man  was  intense, 
and  he  felt  that  every  human  being  was  his  brother. 
"Wherever  he  happened  to  be  visiting,  his  attention 
was  always  directed  to  the  children.  He  was  the 
playmate  of  his  own  children,  and  not  unfrequently 
was  found  by  his  visitors  romping  with  them  like 
one  of  their  playmates.  He  felt  himself  one  with 
all  the  thousands  of  outcasts  with  whom  he  became 
acquainted  in  his  pastoral  visitations.  In  them 
he  saw  the  degraded  masses  throughout  his  native 
country,  and  he  imposed  upon  himself  the  labor 
of  attempting  to  elevate  and  renew  jhem  with  a 
self-devotion  that  ended  only  with  his  life.  This 
moved  him  to  his  labors  at  Kilmany.  It  increased 
in  power,  as  with  his  own  eyes  he  beheld  the  misery 
which  festered  in  the  Tron  parish  and  in  St. 
Johns.  This  established  the  Sabbath  school  in  St. 
Andrews,  and  stimulated  him  to  those  labors  which 
led  to  so  glorious  a  result.  It  was  the  hope  of 
filling  Scotland  with  Christian  institutions  that 
strengthened  him  to  labor  until  he  saw  222 
churches  erected  for  the  Establishment.  In  the 
hope  that  the  Free  Church  would  accomplish  this 


PERSONAL   CHARACTER  — DEATH.  185 

object,  even  in  declining  health  he  again  put  on 
the  harness,  and  did  not  lay  it  aside  until  he  had 
been  the  means  of  building  600  churches  for  its 
accommodation.  When  he  feared  that  the  wish 
of  his  heart  would  not  be  accomplished  through 
this  latter  agency,  aged  and  feeble,  but  with  un- 
changed love  for  the  fallen  and  degraded,  if  he 
could  not  move  the  whole  country,  he  resolved  to 
show  what  might  be  done  by  one  example,  and  he 
commenced  his  great  missionary  work  at  the  West 
Port.  In  its  filthy  alleys  and  dirty  workshops  he 
spoke  to  these  degraded  men  and  women,  with  an 
outpouring  love  and  a  tender  earnestness,  with 
which  not  even  his  most  admired  efforts  at  the 
Tron  Church  and  St.  Johns  could  be  compared. 

But  his  love  and  sympathy  for  man  was  unlim- 
ited. He  labored  with  every  class  and  for  every 
class,  and  many  of  his  intimate  friends  were  among 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  realm.  In 
Glasgow,  in  Edinburgh,  and  in  London  his  congre- 
gations were  in  a  large  part  composed  of  the  most 
eminent  men  in  the  various  departments  of  liter- 
ary and  social  life.  Men  of  science,  men  of  learn- 
ing, statesmen,  lawyers,  millionaires,  when  they 
came  within  the  sound  of  his  voice,  yielded  at  once 
to  the  spell  of  his  wonderful  eloquence.  They 
felt  themselves  at  one  with  the  speaker ;  his  spirit 
seemed  to  commune  with  theirs  and  to  sway  them 
all  at  his  single  will.     The  whole  audience  seemed 


186  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

to  feel  as  one  man,  and,  as  they  retired  from  the 
sound  of  his  voice,  felt  conscious  that  they,  for  th  - 
time  at  least,  were  formed  after  the  model  of  this 
wonderful  orator. 

As  a  public  speaker  he  owed  nothing  to  personal 
appearance.  He  was  of  the  ordinary  height,  and 
rather  strongly  if  not  heavily  built.  His  eye  was 
commonly  dull  and'frequently  dreamy  ;  but  when 
engaged  in  earnest  speaking  "  it  was  lighted  up 
to  a  glow."  His  gestures  were  awkward  and  his 
action  not  graceful.  His  pronunciation  was  so 
broadly  Scottish,  that  an  American,  until  several 
sentences  had  been  spoken,  could  not  fully  under- 
stand him.  The  tones  of  his  voice  must  have  been 
perfect  almost  beyond  example.  Rich,  varied, 
flexible,  of  vast  compass,  they  clothed  the  burning 
thoughts  of  the  speaker  with  such  an  utterance 
as  conveyed  to  the  hearer  every  shade  of  feeling 
with  which  he  himself  was  agitated.  The  tender- 
ness of  pity,  the  scoff  of  contempt,  the  disgust  at 
meanness,  the  buoyancy  of  hope,  and  the  shudder 
of  despair,  thus  penetrated  the  heart  of  every 
hearer,  and  rung  in  his  ears  for  weeks '  after  the 
occasion  had  passed  away. 

With  feelings  so  strong  and  excitability  so  acute, 
it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  he  should  not  be 
easily  moved.  Falsehood,  treachery,  hypocrisy, 
and  selfishness,  instantly  startled  him,  and  he  be- 
came sternly  indignant.     It  was,  however,  but  for 


PERSONAL  CHARACTER  —  BEAT II.  137 

a  moment.  Benevolence  soon  drowned  his  anger 
forever,  and  he  was  perhaps  the  first  to  make  ex- 
cuses for  the  offenders,  and  join  in  the  laugh  which 
his  excitement  had  occasioned.  While  he  was  one 
day  very  busily  engaged  in  his  study,  a  man  en 
tered,  who  at  once  propitiated  him,  under  the 
perplexity  of  an  unexpected  interruption,  by  tell- 
ing him  that  he  called  under  great  distress  of 
mind.  "  Sit  down,  sir ;  be  good  enough  to  be 
seated,"  said  Dr.  Chalmers,  turning  eagerly  and 
full  of  interest  from  his  writing-table.  The  visitor 
explained  to  him  that  he  was  troubled  with  doubts 
about  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christian  religion, 
and  being  kindly  questioned  as  to  the  nature  of 
his  doubts,  he  gave  among  other  difficulties  what 
is  said  in  the  Bible  about  Melchisedec  being  without 
father,  without  mother,  etc.  Patiently  and  anx- 
iously Dr.  Chalmers  sought  to  clear  away  every 
successive  difficulty  as  it  was  stated.  Expressing 
himself  greatly  relieved  in  mind,  and  imagining 
that  he  had  gained  his  end,  "  Doctor/'  said  the 
visitor,  "  I  am  in  great  need  of  a  little  money  at 
present,  and  perhaps  you  could  help  me  in  that 
way."  At  once  the  object  of  the  visit  was  seen, 
and  a  perfect  tornado  of  indignation  burst  upon  the 
deceiver,  driving  him  in  very  quick  retreat  from 
tl;e  study  to  the  street  door,  these  words  escaping, 
among  others :  "  Not  a  penny,  sir ;  not  a  penny.    It 


188  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

is  too  bad,  it  is  too  bad  ;  and  to  haul  in  your  hypoc- 
risy upon  the  shoulders  of  Melchisedec  !  " 

A  similar  incident  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  when  he  was  told  that  it  was  objected  by 
some  minister,  that  if  many  churches  like  that  at 
West  Port  were  erected,  it  might  draw  away  some 
hearers  from  the  existing  Edinburgh  ministers. 
It  created  a  storm  of  indignation.  "  And  for  the 
sake,"  said  he,  "  of  those  that  would  drop  from  this 
and  that  man's  congregation,  am  I  to  let  the 
masses  live  in  dirt  and  die  in  darkness  ?  Hor- 
rible !  to  make  a  rabbit-warren  of  human  souls. 
Can  that  man  believe  what  he  preaches,  who  would 
stand  by  and  see  hundreds  sink  into  an  unpre- 
pared eternity,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  Mr. 
John  This  (spoken  with  an  ironical  drawl)  or  Mr. 
James  That  being  lost  to  his  congregation.  There 
is  a  vast  deal  of  spurious  faith,  and  I  see  more  and 
more  the  meaning  of  the  Saviour's  question, '  When 
the  Son  of  Man  cometh  shall  he  find  faith  on  the 
earth?'" 

In  reading  his  "  Horae  Sabbaticse"  and  his  journals, 
one  would  be  led  to  suspect  that  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
a  full  feeder,  or  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  indulg- 
ing in  the  luxuries  of  the  table.  This,  however, 
was  not  the  fact ;  he  was,  on  the  contrary,  remark- 
ably abstemious.  His  self-condemnations  had 
respect  to  the  rule  which  he  had  formed  for  him- 
self, and  not  to  the  actual  fact.     Every  incapacity 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  189 

for  intellectual  effort  or  spiritual  exercise,  he  was 
disposed  to  attribute  to  an  excess  in  eating,  which 
it  was  his  duty  to  subdue.  Thus,  one  night  after 
supper,  at  Merchistown  Castle,  he  enters  in  his 
journal,  "  Exceeded  to-night  at  supper."  The 
fact  really  was,  that  at  supper  a  water  biscuit,  thin 
as  a  wafer,  but  of  large  circumference,  was  put 
upon  the  plate  before  him.  As  he  got  into  an 
animated  conversation  he  continued  breaking  down 
this  biscuit  into  small  parts  and  eating  them. 
When  he  discovered  that  the  biscuit  was  all  con- 
sumed he  expressed  himself  surprised  and  shocked, 
though  this  was  all  that  he  had  partaken  of,  and 
when  he  retired  made  the  entry  in  his  journal  to 
which  we  have  alluded. 

The  habits  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  so  far  as  intellectual 
labor  was  concerned,  were  peculiar,  and  in  many 
respects  worthy  of  profound  reflection.  In  the 
first  place,  he  adhered  inflexiblvJorihe-.xiiler^wZ/a 
dies  sine  linea, —  compose  something  every  day. 
Except  during  the  first  winter  at  St.  Andrews,  he 
never  exceeded  two  or  three  hours  at  a  sitting  in 
severe  composition,  and  there  was  seldom  more 
than  one  sitting  in  the  course  of  the  day.  The 
tension  of  his  mind  during  the  effort  was  extreme, 
but  it  was  never  so  long  continued  as  to  induce 
fatigue  or  exhaustion.  During  the  last  six  or 
seven  years  of  his  life,  his  daily  modicum  of  original 
composition  was  completed  before  breakfast,  and 


190  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

all  done  in  bed.  The  preparatory  ruminating  or 
excogitating  process  was  slow,  but  it  was  complete. 
"  I  have  often  fancied,"  he  once  said,  "  that  in  one 
respect  I  resembled  Rousseau,  who  says  of  himself 
that  his  processes  of  thought  vrevejslqw  but  ardent" 
—  a  curious  and  rare  combination.  In  proportion, 
however,  to  the  slowness  with  which  his  conclusions 
were  reached,  was  the  firmness  with  which  they 
were  riveted.  Hence,  with  the  exception  of  the 
change  in  his  religious  sentiments  in  the  early 
part  of  his  ministry  at  Kilmany,  though  he  has 
been  often  accused  of  inconsistency,  there  is  not 
one  of  his  published  or  formally  expressed  opinions 
that  he  had  ever  occasion  to  alter.  This  slow  and 
deliberate  habit  of  thinking  gave  him  great  advan- 
tage when  the  act  of  composition  came  to  be  per- 
jGorme4r-  He  had  never  the  double  task  to  do,  at 
once  of  thinking  what  he  should  say,  and  then  how 
he  should  say  it.  The  one  was  over  before  the 
other  commenced.  He  never  began  to  write  till 
in  its  subjects,  and  the  order  and  proportion  of  its 
parts,  the  map  or  outline  of  the  future  composition 
was  laid  down ;  and  this  was  done  so  distinctly, 
and,  as  it  were,  authoritatively,  that  it  was  seldom 
violated.  When  engaged,  therefore,  in  writing, 
his  whole  undivided  strength  was  given  to  the  best 
and  most  powerful  expression  of  preestablished 
ideas.  In  a  word,  he  never  wrote  a  sermon  or  de- 
livered a  speech  for  which  he  had  not  deliberat  dy, 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  191 

and  as  perfectly  as  he  could,  prepared  a  skeleton 
of  the  thought.  When  this  had  been  finished,  the 
work  of  preparation  was,  for  the  best  part,  done. 

It  deserves,  also,  to  be  remarked,  that  in  thus 
writing  out  his  thoughts,  either  for  the  pulpit  or 
the  press,  he  most  commonly  employed  short- 
hand. He  could  read  it  himself  with  the  utmost 
case,  and  it  was,  we  presume,  in  the  case  of  writing 
for  the  press,  transcribed  for  him  by  others.  By 
this  means  lie  was  able  to  do  more  in  the  same 
amount  of  time  than  other  men,  and  could,  with  less 
delay,  transfer  to  the  page  the  burning  thoughts 
with  which  his  whole  soul  was  impassioned. 

In  this  careful  preparation,  in  doing  all  the 
work  of  thinking  before  the  writing  was  com- 
menced, he  took  the  only  method  by  which  good 
composition  can  be  produced.  It  is  also  probably 
true,  that  he  acted  wisely  in  allotting  fewer  hours 
in  a  day  to  earnest  intellectual  work  than  are 
commonly  employed  by  men  of  similar  pursuits. 
Yet  he  was  one  of  the  most  voluminous  writers 
of  his  time,  and  one  of  the  most  effective.  He 
did  more  and  better  with  his  two  or  three  hours 
a  clay,  than  men  who  give  up  to  solid  mental  oc- 
cupation ten,  twelve,  or  fourteen  hours  daily. 
Though  he  had  several  attacks  of  illness,  yet  he 
was  never  an  habitual  invalid.  This  surely  indi- 
cates that  he  was  obeying  the  physical  laws  of  his 
being.     The  brain  can  labor  vigorously  at  original 


192  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

work  but  few  hours  at  a  time.  It  is  better  to 
seize  these  then,  and  to  vigorously  employ  them, 
than  to  pore  over  work  in  dogged  resolution.  In 
general,  we  may  be  assured  that  hard  writing  be- 
comes hard  reading  and  hard  hearing.  A  remark 
which  he  makes  in  connection  with  this  subject  is 
worth  remembering,  and  we  have  never  met  with 
it  elsewhere.  "  I  find,"  he  says,  "  that  success- 
ful exertion  is  a  powerful  means  of  exhilaration, 
which  discharges  itself  in  good  humor  upon  oth- 
ers." His  own  morning  compositions  seldom  failed 
in  this  effect,  as  he  came  forth  from  them  beam- 
ing and  buoyant,  with  a  step  as  springing  as  that 
of  childhood,  and  a  spirit  overflowing  with  benig- 
nity. Although  the  solid  work  of  the  day  was 
over,  his  occupation  was  not  gone.  The  time 
which  remained  was  devoted  to  Biblical  readings, 
to  the  improvement  of  his  theological  lectures,  to 
reading  the  best  English  authors,  to  correspond- 
ence, to  hospitality,  to  intercourse  with  his  family, 
and  to  those  labors  of  philanthropy  in  which  he 
was  so  deeply  interested. 

With  all  his  social  cheerfulness  and  beaming 
joy,  there  were  tokens  not  a  few  of  an  internal 
conflict,  glimpses  of  an  inward  desolation  which 
told  unmistakably,  that,  like  David,  he  felt  himself 
to  be  a  stranger  on  this  earth.  "I  would  not  live 
always  "  was  a  sentence  which  he  often  uttered. 
"  What  a  wilderness  this  world  is  to  the  heart,  with 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  193 

all  it  has  to  inspire  happiness.  I  am  more  conver- 
sant with  principles  than  with  persons.  I  begin 
to  suspect  that  the  intensity  of  my  own  pursuits 
has  isolated  me  from  living  men,  and  that  the%  is 
a  want  of  amalgamation  about  me  which  cements 
the  companionships  and  closer  brotherhoods  that 
obtain  in  society.  I  have  a  great  and  growing 
sense  of  desolation.  These  are  perhaps  the  feel- 
ings which  arise  in  advanced  life  from  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  belong  to  a  mind  of  originality 
and  independence,  and  from  that  sense  of  respon- 
sibility which  withdraws  instinctively  from  all 
ambiguous  or  useless  associations."  He  adds, 
"  What  a  marvellous  solitude  every  man  bears 
about  him ;  and  then  that  other  and  mysterious 
seclusion,  the  intervening  veil  between  us  and  the 
Deity.  You  would  think,"  speaking  in  a  hesitat- 
ing tone,  "  that  lie  would  delight  to  manifest  him- 
self to  his  creatures.  No  doubt  the  obstacle  is 
in  the  subjective ;  the  clearer  the  reflecting  me- 
dium the  brighter  the  manifestation.  That  is 
strikingly  put  in  Matthew.  The  pure  in  heart 
shall  see  God.  I  look  upon  it  as  a  strong  proof 
of  our  alienation  from  God  ;  for  how  short  a  time 
we  can  sustain  a  direct  contemplation  of  him  ; 
what  a  mighty  transformation,  when  the  veil  of 
outer  things  shall  be  withdrawn,  and  we  stand 
naked  and  alone  before  him  with  whom  we  have 
to  do!" 

13 


194  MEMOIR    OF    DR.     CHALMERS. 

"  During  the  summer  before  his  death,  Dr.  Chal- 
mers visited  Jedburgh,  where  there  had  occurred 
lately  a  somewhat  remarkable  revival  of  religion. 
He  spent  several  days  in  the  village,  principally 
in  company  with  its  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Purves. 
Mr.  P.'s  account  of  these  interviews  presents  one 
of  the  liveliest  portraits  of  the  inner  life  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,  and  of  its  beaming  forth  in  every  form 
of  Christian  benignity,  that  we  have  ever  met  with. 
Though  the  extracts  which  we  make  from  this 
lotter  are  long,  we  think  they  will  be  read  with 
interest. 

"  We  have  known  much  of  him  as  an  unrivalled 
orator  ;  we  now  look  upon  him  with  a  deeper  interest 
as  the  loving  disciple  of  the  blessed  Saviour 

"What  struck  me  most  in  his  deportment," 
says  Mr.  P.,  "was  the  patriarchal  simplicity  and 
parental  benignity  of  character  which  everything 
he  did  and  said  so  beautifully  displayed.  The 
genial  and  kindly  interest  he  took  in  every  one, 
the  delicate  attention  he  paid  to  all,  even  to  the 
youngest  child  around  him,  the  happy-heartedness 
he  so  obviously  felt  in  the  prosperity  of  the  young 
ministers  as  he  drew  them  out  to  state  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  were  placed,  and  the  mod- 
esty and  kindliness  with  which  he  dropped  a  word 
of  advice  or  of  encouragement  to  them,  formed 
altogether  one  of  the  loveliest  moral  pictures  I  ever 
beheld. 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  195 

"But  to  pass  from  the  general  features  of  his 
character,  —  what  to  me  was  especially  worthy  of 
note,  was  the  spiritual  light  in  which  he  presented 
himself.  Some  heard  him  lament  that  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  had  been  placed  had  al- 
ways kept  him  in  the  outer  court  of  the  temple, 
and  that  the  inner  and  more  spiritual  sphere  he 
had  rather  looked  forward  to  as  a  land  of  Beulah 
in  the  distance  than  one  actually  attained  to  and 
enjoyed.  Whether  this  was  the  confession  of 
mere  humility  alone,  I  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
But  I  will  say,  that  of  all  the  individuals  or  pri- 
vate Christians  who  have  been  here  since  there 
was  a  little  quickening  of  the  Spirit  of  God  among 
the  people,  Dr.  Chalmers  showed  by  far  the  deep- 
est interest  in  their  spiritual  state  and  history. 
It  formed  the  staple  of  our  discourse  during  the 
two  happy  days  we  spent  together.  He  asked  me 
to  recount  to  him  all  the  prominent  cases  of  con- 
version which  had  come  under  my  notice,  and 
never  seemed  to  weary  in  listening  to  such  details 
as  I  could  give  him.  Often  and  often  would  he 
break  in  on  the  little  narratives  with  expressions 
of  the  highest  delight,  saying  it  had  been  his  life- 
long wisli  to  breathe  in  a  spiritual  atmosphere, 
and  that  it  was  a  kind  of  heaven  upon  earth  to  do 
so.  Even  before  we  left  the  pulpit,  on  the  Sab- 
bath when  he  preached  for  me,  he  remarked  what 
a  delight  he  had  in  preaching  to  and  worshipping 


198  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

with  a  people  who  had  so  much  of  the  simple,  sol- 
emn spirit  of  Christianity  in  their  aspect ;  it  was 
so  different  from  the  pressure  and  bustle  and  stare 
he  had  been  so  much  accustomed  to,  and  which 
was  often  so  alien  from  true  worship.  I  do  not 
know  how  many  persons  he  pointed  out  with  whose 
countenances  he  had  become  arrested,  and  with 
whose  history  he  begged  to  be  made  acquainted. 
With  one  of  these  persons  he  seemed  to  be  spe- 
cially taken,  whose  eye  had  never  been  removed 
from  him  for  a  single  moment,  and  who  remained 
riveted  to  her  seat  till  every  other  member  of  the 
congregation  had  left  the  place.  When  informed 
that  she  was  a  kind  of  poor  Joseph  (imbecile), 
whose  mind  was  weak  on  all  points  but  religion, 
his  interest  in  her  was  still  more  deepened.  After 
I  told  him  how,  when  the  news  of  the  disruption 
had  reached  the  place,  she  had  gone  into  a  neigh- 
bor's house  and  with  a  face  beaming  with  delight 
had  said,  '  Have  you  heard  the  good  news  ?  Man 
is  to  have  no  more  rule  in  Christ's  house  ;  we  are 
to  have  no  other  master  now  but  himself,'  he 
dwelt  on  it  at  the  time,  and  afterward  in  our  sub- 
sequent intercourse  often  reverted  to  it  as  one  of 
the  happiest  sayings  elicited  by  our  controversy  ; 
adding  it  was  one  of  the  many  proofs  that  while 
the  prominent  points  of  our  controversy  could  by 
no  act  be  made  to  penetrate  the  higher  intellects  of 
the  land,  they  seemed  to  be  instinctively  and  intu- 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  197 

itively  seized  by  those  who,  though  simple,  were 
taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

"  It  was  at  his  own  request  that,  after  we  had 
seen  the  few  antiquarian  curiosities  of  the  place, 
we  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  visiting  as  many 
of  the  people  as  possible  who  had  lately,  to  all 
appearance,  undergone  a  saving  change  of  char- 
acter. It  was,  unfortunately,  at  the  season  when 
their  employments  took  them  from  home  to  the 
surrounding  country,  and  as  I  was  not  to  inti- 
mate our  purpose,  but  to  take  them  in  their  usual 
guise  and  occupations,  it  was  somewhat  difficult 
to  accomplish  our  purpose.  You  can  easily  im- 
agine also,  that,  as  they  know  by  report,  and 
from  hearing  him  on  the  preceding  day,  who  the 
illustrious  visitor  was,  the  people  in  general  were 
more  disposed  to  listen  than  to  speak.  And  what 
still  more  increased  the  difficulty  of  letting  him 
see  their  every-clay  and  spiritual  being  was  the 
circumstance,  that  on  its  being  known  that  he  was 
in  any  house,  neighbors,  of  a  religious  character 
at  least,  dropped  in,  whose  presence  somewhat 
damped  the  freedom  of  communication  on  Chris- 
tian experimental  subjects.  Notwithstanding  all 
these  obstacles,  we  saw  a  considerable  number  of 
recent  converts  to  more  or  less  advantage ;  and 
I  may  particularly  note  one  house,  with  the  group 
that  assembled,  with  which  he  seemed  specially 
taken,   as   I   know   the    people   themselves   were 


198  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

struck  with  the  singular  outpouring  in  prayer 
with  which  of  his  own  accord  he  closed  the  inter- 
view. 

"  The  plan  was,  I  was  quietly  and  incidentally 
tojdraw-tlie.  people  into  conversation  which  might 
show  the  inner  being,  without  their  being  aware 
of  the  purpose,  while  he  was  simply  to  listen.  It 
happened  fortunately,  in  the  case  referred  to,  that 
I  got  next  to  a  woman  whose  impressions  of  divine 
things  were  but  recent,  whose  experiences  also, 
both  of  sorrow  and  joy,  had  been  so  deep  that  she 
had  found  it  nearly  impossible  to  confine  either  to 
her  own  breast,  and  who  was  at  this  time  laboring 
■under  that  disease  which  a  short  time  afterwards 
transmitted  her  spirit  to  glory,  and  which  even 
then  may  have  given  her  soul  such  a  presentiment 
of  her  approaching  end  as  to  make  her  more  free 
and  communicative  than  others  would  have  been. 
She  accordingly,  with  great  modesty  and  interest, 
in  her  own  homely  way,  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tions which  my  knowledge  of  her  previous  history 
enabled  me  to  put  to  her,  gave  the  leading  points 
of  her  change,  her  awakening  to  a  sense  of  her 
lost  condition,  and  the  method  in  which  God  had 
brought  her  to  a  state  of  peace  and  joy  in  believ- 
ing. Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene  which  pre- 
sented itself,  when,  near  the  close  of  the  narrative, 
I  turned  round  to  see  its  effect  upon  our  venerable 
father.      The  whole   scene  was    such  a  one  as  a 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  199 

painter  would  have  liked  to  perpetuate.  There 
were  two  beds  running  along  one  side  of  the  apart- 
ment, on  the  edge  of  which  ten  or  a  dozen  persons 
had,  since  the  interview  began,  ranged  themselves, 
including  one  of  our  humble  elders,  and  several 
individuals  who,  during  the  two  or  three  previous 
years,  had  been  turned  from  darkness  to  light. 
The  countenances  of  several  of  these,  as  they 
were  lighted  up  with  Christian  sympathy,  —  one 
more  especially,  whose  foreign  and  gipsy-like  fea- 
tures, and  fine  black  eyes  swimming  all  the  time 
i:>  tears,  —  greatly  arrested  Dr.  Chalmers,  as  he 
told  me  afterwards.  But  he  himself  was  the  most 
interesting  object  of  all.  The  figure  he  presented 
was  not  a  little  grotesque,  but  profoundly  affect- 
ing. He  was  himself  in  a  corner  of  the  apart- 
ment, facing  the  little  group,  but  rather  behind 
the  woman  and  me.  The  person  in  whose  house 
we  were  had  been  baking  bread  before  we  entered, 
and  the  table  at  the  end  of  which  he  had  placed 
himself  was  covered  with  meal.  Not  observing 
this,  he  had  placed  one  elbow  in  the  midst  of  it, 
and  pulling  out  a  drawer  in  an  old  wardrobe  on 
the  other  side,  on  which  to  rest  his  other  elbow, 
there  he  was,  sitting  in  this  posture,  with  a  hand 
behind  each  ear  to  catch  what  was  passing,  and 
with  a  countenance  so  inexpressibly  bland  and 
benignant,  on  which  the  interest,  sympathy,  and 
delight  of  the  good  man's  heart  had  cast  such  a 


200  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

heavenly  radiance,  as  I  shall  never  forget  while  I 
live.  He  put  several  questions  himself  to  the 
elder  referred  to,  as  to  the  former  and  present 
state  of  things  ;  which,  having  been  long  in  the 
place,  he  was  able  to  answer,  and  did  answer  in 
a  way  which  evidently  deepened  the  interest 
already  depicted  on  Dr.  Chalmers's  countenance. 
He  then,  as  I  have  mentioned,  of  his  own  accord, 
engaged  in  prayer  with  and  for  the  little  group 
around  him,  like  a  father  or  one  of  the  ancient 
patriarchs,  commending  them  to  the  care  and 
keeping  of  God  Almighty.  It  was  a  wonderful 
outpouring,  full  of  unction,  compared  with  which 
even  his  eloquence  was  but  tame.  Indeed,  the 
whole  scene  was  one  of  uncommon  interest.  I 
felt  at  the  time  that,  if  circumstances  had  kept 
him  in  the  outer  court  most  of  his  life,  all  the 
man's  likings,  his  deepest  affections,  his  whole 
heart,  were  within  the  veil.  He  said  to  me,  as  we 
stepped  out  into  the  street,  and  he  pressed  my  arm 
in  his,  '  That  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  groups  I 
ever  beheld.'  And  I  must  say  that,  though  I  have 
seen  him  in  many  positions  of  the  deepest  interest, 
—  in  the  pulpit,  the  professor's  chair,  the  chair  of 
the  first  Free  Assembly,  and,  better  than  all, 
among  his  ragged  children  in  the  West  Port,  —  I 
don't  know  but,  now  that  the  ripened  spirit  is  re- 
moved to  a  more  congenial  world  than  this,  my 
memory  dwells  with  fonder  delight  on  the  picture 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  201 

of  the  venerable  man  in  this  humble  cottage  than 
anywhere  else  it  has  been  my  lot  to  see  him. 
There  was  more  of  character,  and  of  the  highest 
style  of  character,  —  Christian  benevolence,  spir- 
ituality, heavenliness,  —  displayed  in  that  humble 
dwelling  than  I  had  ever  seen  anywhere  else. 
His  visit  left  a  most  happy  and  hallowed  impres- 
sion upon  not  only  myself  and  those  privileged 
to  be  in  nearest  contact  with  him,  but  I  may  say 
on  the  whole  place  ;  the  benignity  and  goodness  of 
the  man  eclipsed  even  his  greatness,  leaving  such 
an  odor  behind  as  made  one  feel  it  was  even  '  as  if 
an  angel  shook  his  wings.'  " 

Sneh  wns-the  heavenly  state  of  mind  which  Dr. 
Chalmers  enjoyed,  when,  having  laid  aside,  for  the 
most  part,  public  labors,  his  soul  took  its  natural 
direction,  and  he  was  permitted  to  realize  his  en- 
trance into  the  land  of  Beulah,  for  which  he  had 
so  iong  sighed. 

SobTfafter  the  communion  of  the  West  Port 
Church,  in  April,  1847,  he  was  obliged  to  go  to 
London  in  order  to  give  his  evidence  before  a  Par- 
liamentary committee.  He  accomplished  his  ob- 
ject, saw  several  friends  in  London  and  vicinity, 
and  on  his  return  took  occasion  to  visit  his  sister, 
Mrs.  Morton.  "It  was,"  said  his  niece,  "most 
delightful  to  watch  his  countenance.  I  never  saw 
anything  like  the  smiles  that  gleamed  one  after 
another  over  it.     He  looked  so  happy,  so  innocent, 


202  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

so  childlike,  that  one  could  hardly  fancy  him  the 
person  before  whom  men  of  the  greatest  intellc 
felt  conscious  of  inferiority."  Every  day  he  reau 
and  prayed  with  Mrs.  Morton  in  her  own  room. 
Taking  her  daughter  aside  on  the  last  day  he  was 
at  Whitfield,  he  took  down  the  Bible,  and  said, 
"  Come  and  look  here."  He  then  followed  with  his 
finger  every  word  as  he  read  the  tenth  verse  of  the 
fiftieth  chapter  of  Isaiah.  "  Who  is  among  you  that 
feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his  ser- 
vant, that  walketh  in  darkness  and  hath  no  light, 
let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay 
upon  his  God."  "  Now,  I  am  sure  you  have  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  before  you,  thus  obeying  his  voice. 
It  would  be  very  delightful  to  see  Jesus  as  he  is, 
at  the  right  hand  of  God ;  but  all  do  not  enjoy 
this ;  it  is  not  given  to  all,  but  all  may  obey  his 
voice.  You  obey  that  voice  by  honoring  your 
father  and  mother,  by  attending  to  your  household 
duties,  and  if  at  any  time  you  be  in  darkness,  see 
here  what  you  have  to  do.  You  know  that  the 
name  of  a  person  is  little  compared  with  his  pres- 
ence, and  yet  the  Lord  bids  you  take  his  name, 
and  lean  upon  it,  and  stay  yourself  upon  it,  and 
that  will  be  enough  for  you."  In  his  last  prayer 
with  them,  he  prayed  that  one  and  all  of  them 
might  be  shielded  under  the  ample  canopy  of  the 
Redeemer's  righteousness ;  that  every  hour  that 
struck,  every  day  that  dawned,  every  night  that 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATH.  206 

darkened  around  them,  might  find  them  mooter 
for  death  and  for  the  eternity  that  follows  it ;  and 
that,  when  their  earthly  course  was  finished,  they 
might  meet  and  spend  together  a  never-ending  Sab- 
bath in  the  bright  abodes  of  purity  and  peace. 

On  the  night  of  Friday,  May  28,  he  arrived  in 
Edinburgh,  with  no  particular  marks  of  fatigue 
or  exhaustion.  On  the  forenoon  of  Saturday,  he 
was  engaged  in  preparing  a  report  for  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  then  in  ses- 
sion. On  Sunday  he  felt  more  the  effects  of 
fatigue,  though  he  accompanied  Dr.  Cunningham 
to  his  place  of  worship  at  Morning  Side.  He  spent 
the  evening  with  his  family,  as  usual,  charming 
every  one  by  his  genial  benignity.  After  supper, 
he  said  to  a  clergyman  who  happened  to  be  stay- 
ing with  him,  "  You  gave  us  worship  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  I  am  sorry  to  ask  you  again  to  give  us  worship 
in  the  evening."  "  Not  at  all,"  said  he  ;  "  I  shall 
be  happy  to  do  so."  "  Well,"  replied  he,  "  you 
will  give  worship  to-night,  and  I  expect  to  give 
worship  to-morrow  morning" 

During  the  whole  evening,  as  if  he  had  kept  his 
brightest  smiles  and  fondest  utterances  to  the  last, 
and  for  his  own,  he  was  peculiarly  bland  and  be- 
nignant. "  I  had  seen  him  frequently,"  says  Mr. 
Gemmel,  "  at  Fairlie  in  his  happiest  moods,  but  I 
never  saw  him  happier.  Christian  benevolence 
beamed  from  his  countenance,  sparkled  in  his  eye, 


204  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

and  played  upon  his  lips."  Immediately  after 
prayers  be  withdrew,  and  bidding  bis  family  re- 
member tbat  they  must  be  early  to-morrow,  be 
waved  bis  band,  saying,  "  A  general  good-night." 

Next  morning  before  eight  o'clock,  Professor 
McDougal,  who  lived  in  the  bouse  adjoining,  sent 
to  inquire  about  a  package  of  papers  which  he 
had  expected  to  receive  at  an  earlier  hour.  The 
housekeeper,  who  had  been  long  in  the  family, 
knocked  at  the  door  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  room,  but 
received  no  answer.  Concluding  that  he  was 
asleep,  and  unwilling  to  disturb  him,  she  waited 
until  another  person  called  with  a  second  message. 
She  then  entered  the  room  ;  it  was  in  darkness  ;  she 
spoke,  but  received  no  response.  At  last  she  threw 
open  the  window-shutters  and  drew  aside  the  cur- 
tains of  the  bed.  He  sat  there,  half  erect,  his  head 
reclining  gently  on  the  pillow,  the  expression  on 
his  countenance  that  of  fine  and  majestic  repose. 
She  took  his  hand,  she  touched  his  brow ;  he  had 
been  dead  for  hours  ;  very  shortly  after  that  part- 
ing salute  to  his  family,  he  had  entered  the  eternal 
world.  His  departure  must  have  been  wholly  with- 
out pain  or  conflict.  The  expression  of  the  face, 
undisturbed  by  any  trace  of  suffering,  the  position 
of  the  body,  so  easy  that  the  least  struggle  would 
have  disturbed  it,  the  very  posture  of  his  arms, 
hands,  and  fingers,  known  to  his  family  as  that 
into  which  they  fell  naturally  in  moments  of  entire 


PERSONAL    CHARACTER  — DEATn.  205 

repose,  conspired  to  show  that,  saved  all  strife  with 
the  last  enemy,  his  spirit  had  passed  to  its  place  of 
blessedness  and  glory  in  the  heavens. 

The  funeral  took  place  on  Friday,  June  4th. 
Never  before,  says  the  "  Witness,"  did  we  behold 
such  a  funeral,  —  nay,  never  before  in  the  memory 
of  man,  did  Scotland  witness  such  a  funeral.  It 
seemed  as  if  all  Edinburgh,  nay,  all  Scotland,  was 
in  tears.  It  was  a  solemn  tribute  spontaneously 
paid  to  departed  goodness  and  greatness  by  the 
public  mind.  "  We  are  confident,"  says  the  writer, 
"  we  rather  underestimate  than  exaggerate  their 
numbers  when  we  state  that  the  spectators  of  the 
funeral  must  have  rather  exceeded  than  fallen 
short  of  a  hundred  thousand  persons.  There  was  a 
moral  sublimity  in  the  spectacle.  It  spoke  more 
emphatically  than  by  words  of  the  dignity  of  in- 
trinsic excellence,  and  the  height  to  which  a  true 
man  may  attain.  It  was  the  dust  of  a  Presbyterian 
minister  that  the  coffin  contained,  and  yet  they 
were  burying  him  amid  the  tears  of  a  nation,  and 
with  more  than  kingly  honors." 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONCLUSION. 

E  have  completed  the  narrative  of  that 
portion  of  the  life  of  Dr.  Chalmers  which 
was  either  strictly  parochial  or  else  devot- 
ed to  direct  labor  for  the  extension  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  It  may  not  be  inop- 
portune now  to  offer  some  suggestions  which  nat- 
urally arise  from  a  review  of  the  course  of  life 
which  we  have  thus  briefly  presented.  Such  sug- 
gestions, though  they  might  occur  to  every  reader, 
may  not  be  wholly  useless ;  for  our  own  reflec- 
tions frequently  impress  themselves  upon  us  more 
strongly  when  we  find  that  they  have  also  arisen 
in  the  minds  of  others. 

Our  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Chalmers  as  a  min- 
ister commenced  with  his  ordination  at  Kilmany. 
He  was  then  distinguished  as  a  mathematician 
and  a  chemist,  and  a  popular  lecturer  upon  his 
favorite  sciences.  To  these  pursuits  he  gave  the 
greater  portion  of  his  time,  allotting  only  two  clays 
in  the  week  to  the  labors  of  his  parish.  When  it 
was  made  a  matter  of  complaint  that  he  was  thus 
a  pluralist,  performing  another  service  than  that 

206 


CONCLUSION.  207 

which  was  really  parochial,  he  boldly  answered 
that  he  performed  all  his  official  duty  ;  he  supplied 
his  pulpit,  and  visited  his  parish  annually,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules,  and  challenged  comparison  with 
any  of  his  brethren.  He  considered  his  service 
merely  professional,  and  that,  if  he  did  all  that  cus- 
tom demanded,  he  might  employ  the  remainder  of 
his  time  as  was  most  pleasing  to  himself.  But  a 
change  came  over  him.  By  the  Spirit  of  God,  he 
was  led  to  look  upon  time  and  eternity,  sin  and  its 
condemnation,  the  helpless  guilt  of  man  and  the 
way  of  salvation  through  Christ,  the  moral  trans- 
formation wrought  by  the  gospel  and  the  eternal 
blessedness  of  the  believer,  as  matters  of  solemn 
reality.  They  took  full  possession  of  his  inmost 
soul.  He  gave  himself  up  with  his  whole  heart  to 
realize  in  his  own  case  that  course  of  life  which 
these  truths  indicate,  and  to  make  them  known 
with  all  his  powers  to  his  dying  fellow-men.  He 
was  assured  that,  though  all  men  needed  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  those  needed 
them  most  who  were  living  in  brutish  ignorance 
and  vice,  the  lowest  class  of  the  population,  spe- 
cially in  large  towns  and  cities.  To  these  latter 
he  consecrated  himself  with  more  than  missionary 
devotion.  He  gave  his  whole  life  to  the  work  of 
raising  the  masses  of  his  countrymen  to  the  level 
of  respected  and  respectable  citizens  here,  and  to 
securing  their  preparedness,  by  a  life  of  piety,  for 


208  MEMOIR    OF    DR.    CHALMERS 

blessed  immortality  hereafter.  The  entire  week, 
instead  of  two  days  of  it,  was  now  too  short  for 
his  labors  at  Kilmany,  and  afterwards,  when  he 
engaged  in  authorship,  all  his  publications  had 
respect  to  this  noble  undertaking,  in  some  form 
or  other. 

When  he  was  called  to  the  Tron  Church,  the 
same  idea  animated  him.  He  found  himself  pos- 
ed of  an  eloquence  which  thronged  his  church 
to  overflowing,  and  placed  him,  by  universal  ac- 
knowledgment, at  the  head  of  the  pulpit  in  Glas- 
gow. But  this  did  not  satisfy  him.  He  saw  that 
his  voice  reached  only  those  few  who  occupied  the 
apex  of  the  social  cone.  There  were  thousands  all 
around  him  who  had  never  heard  of  a  Saviour, 
and  who  knew  nothing  either  of  sin  or  salvation. 
He  at  once  plunged  into  the  scenes  of  misery  and 
vice  in  his  parish,  determined  to  grasp  and  measure 
for  himself  the  depths  of  depravity  which  festered 
in  the  district  over  which  he  had  been  appointed  a 
minister  of  Christ.  Here,  however,  he  found  his 
efforts  thwarted  by  municipal  regulations  which 
had  grown  hoary  with  age,  and  which  tended  to 
render  all  his  labors  ineffectual. 

In  the  fulness  of  his  unexampled  popularity  at 
the  Tron  Church,  he  resolved  to  enter  a  more  un- 
embarrassed field  of  labor.  Forsaking  all  the 
endearments  of  an  old,  influential,  and  wealthy 
parish,  he  accepted  the  ministry  of  St.  Johns,  a 


CONCLUSION.  209 

new  church,  situated  in  one  of  the  poorest  districts 
of  Glasgow,  where  he  could  act  without  magisterial 
interference.  His  success  here  has  been  noticed  in 
the  preceding  pages.  His  labors  in  this  field,  how- 
ever, were  largely  directed  to  the  removal  of  pauper- 
ism, and  he  endeavored  to  show  that  the  metropol- 
itan plan  of  charity  had  no  effect,  except  to  increase 
the  evils  which  it  was  intended  to  remedy.  While 
thus  engaged,  his  multiplied  labors  had  begun  to 
tell  seriously  on  his  health.  He  found  that  he 
could  perforin  them  no  longer,  and  he  resolved  on 
making  an  immediate  change. 

While  at  St.  Johns,  several  of  the  most  wealthy 
parishes  had  been  offered  to  him,  whe#e,  with 
abundant  salary  and  much  lighter  labor,  he  might 
have  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures  of  high  ecclesiastical 
position.  He,  however,  refused  them  all,  and  ac- 
cepted a  professorship  at  St.  Andrews  University, 
the  living  from  which  could  not  be  reckoned  higher 
than  £300  (81,440)  a  year. 

He  found  St.  Andrews,  both  city  and  University, 
at  a  low  ebb  of  spiritual  indifference.  His  desire 
of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor  could  not  be 
gratified  by  public  ministrations.  There  were, 
however,  all  around  him,  children  having  immortal 
souls,  and  he  had  a  house  of  his  own.  He  soon  col- 
lected a  class  into  a  Sabbath  school.  This  was  a 
fruit  of  which  the  seed  was  in  itself.  It  spread 
over  the  whole  city  in  the  manner  already  indicat- 

14 


210  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

ed.  In  our  efforts  to  clo  good,  it  will  generally  be 
found  that  the  work  which  God  places  immediately 
before  us,  though  it  may  seem  small  and  of  little 
promise,  is  really  the  effort  which  he  will  bless, 
and  which  he  will  carry  out  by  his  own  power  to 
the  most  magnificent  results.  It  was  signally  thus 
with  the  Sabbath  schools  of  Robert  Raikes. 

Dr.  Chalmers  was  after  a  few  years  appointed 
Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh. Here  he  prosecuted  his  labor  for  the 
masses,  by  the  attempt  to  multiply  churches. 
When  this  effort  was  arrested  by  the  disruption, 
he  carried  on  the  same  design  in  behalf  of  the 
Free  Church.  When,  after  two  or  three  years, 
this  church  did  not  realize  his  expectations  in  this 
respect,  he  turned  at  last  to  his  crowning  effort  at 
the  West  Port.  Here  God  gave  him  the  desire  of 
his  heart,  and  he  was  not  called  away  until  he,  in 
joyous  gratitude,  could  say,  "  I  can  now  lay  down 
my  head  and  rest  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
thy  salvation." 

From  this  brief  review  of  the  career  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, we  see  that  in  obedience  to  the  Saviour's 
command  he  consecrated  himself  to  the  work  of 
carrying  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  Unparal- 
leled multitudes  crowded  to  hear,  admire,  and 
honor  him.  But  he  saw  that  thus  he  was  not 
yielding  obedience  to  the  Master's  command. 
Those  who  came  were  but  few  in  comparison  with 


CONCLUSION.  211 

the  multitudes  who  did  not  come.  The  poor,  de- 
graded, and  vicious  would  never  enter  those  mag-, 
niiicent  temples,  commonly  called  the  houses  of 
God.  The  gospel  must  be  carried  to  them;  and 
wherever  he  went,  he  at  once  commenced  the 
performance  of  this  duty.  He  marked  out  a 
district,  he  sought  out  fellow-laborers,  he  labored 
with  them;  he  was  certain  that  thus  the  gospel 
in  love  and  affection  would  be  carried  to  every 
family.  And  never  did  the  gospel  fail  to  produce 
its  effect.  This,  which  he  denominated  his  terri- 
torial system,  is,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  one  of  the 
most  important  discoveries  in  philanthropy.  It  is 
worthy  of  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all  good 
men.  Were  any  of  our  cities  thus  divided  into 
districts,  each  under  the  care  of  a  small  number 
of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  who  would  carry  the 
gospel  to  every  family,  and  practically  exhibit  the 
love  of  the  Saviour  to  the  fallen  and  miserable, 
in  ten  years  moral  and  social  changes  would  be 
witnessed  that  would  cheer  the  heart  of  every 
benefactor  of  his  race. 

And  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  wisdom  of 
Dr.  Chalmers's  plans  was  commensurate  with  his 
charity.  He  saw  that  notwithstanding  the  thou- 
sands of  pounds  which  were  given  by  the  city  to 
support  the  poor,  together  with  the  vast  amount 
that  was  contributed  by  individual  liberality,  pau- 
perism was  every  year  more  distressing,  and  that 


212  MEMOIR    OF  DR.    CHALMERS. 

it  was  rapidly  on  the  increase.  He  arrived  at  tins 
conclusion :  that  the  mere  giving  of  money  by  the 
public  is  rather  a  curse  than  a  blessing,  and  that 
even  in  the  case  of  private  charity  it  is  frequently 
of  the  same  character ;  that  the  law  of  the  New 
Testament  is  perfectly  economical  and  merciful, 
— if  a  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat. 
God  spreads  before  us  the  fertile  earth,  abundant 
for  the  supply  of  all  the  wants  of  man ;  but  it  is 
his  will  that  we  should  obtain  our  part  of  this 
abundance  only  as  the  remlLnf-labor.  Hence  he 
established  it  as  an  axiom,  that  it  is  of  no  use  to 
attempt  to  help  the  poor  unless  you  engage  them  to 
aid  in  helping  themselves.  He  would  allow  but  lit- 
tle to  be  given  in  charity,  and  then  in  only  extreme 
cases.  Relief  was  granted  only  to  those  who 
were  disabled,  and  then  only  for  a  season,  if  their 
relatives  were  able  to  help  them.  Pains  were 
taken  to  find  labor  for  all  who  were  able  to  work. 
The  principle  of  self-respect  was  constantly  incul- 
cated, and  they  were  taught  to  be  ashamed  of 
being  on  the  poor-roll.  Even  education  was  not 
afforded  as  a  gratuity ;  all  were  obliged  to  pay  for 
it,  —  not  at  its  full  price,  for  much  was  done  in  the 
work  of  preparation  by  charity;  but  none  were 
deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  feeling  that  they  paid 
for  it.  It  was  by  such  labors  as  these  that  in  a 
few  years  the  parish  of  St.  Johns,  instead  of  de- 
manding £1,200  ($5,760)  for  supporting  it  in  mis- 
ery and  vice,  was  more  than  able  to  support  itself. 


CONCLUSION.  213 

From  the  labors  of  Dr.  Chalmers  at  St.  An- 
drews we  also  learn  another  important  lesson, 
lie  was  here  placed  in  a  situation  where  no 
opportunity  was  afforded  for  labor  in  the  cause 
of  Christ  by  public  ministrations.  The  only  door 
of  usefulness  open  to  him,  which  is  equally  open 
to  all  of  us,  was  to  teach  a  few  poor  children  in  his 
own  house.  Not  despising  the  day  of  small  things, 
he  immediately  seized  upon  this  mode  of  useful- 
ness, and  in  the  result  it  was  seen  that  this  was 
the  very  path  that  led  to  the  greatest  and  most 
blessed  results.  The  work,  commencing  with  a 
few  small  children,  gradually  spread,  until  schools 
and  preaching  stations  thickly  dotted  the  whole 
town  and  vicinity,  and  the  University  itself,  once 
notorious  as  a  place  of  riot  and  dissipation,  was 
cleansed  and  purified,  and  became  a  garden  of  the 
Lord.  Let  us  never,  then,  draw  back  from  a  good 
work  because  we  can  only  labor  on  a  small  scale. 
Though  the  beginning  be  small,  God  only  knows 
how  greatly  the  latter  end  may  increase.  Let  us 
adopt,  as  did  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  maxim  of  the 
missionary  Eliot,  "  Prayers  and  pains,  with  the 
blessing  of  God,  can  do  anything." 

In  the  West  Port  the  labors  of  Dr.  Chalmers 
were  of  a  more  decidedly  evangelical  character. 
He  had  from  the  beginning  the  design  and  the 
hope  that  he  might  bring  this  district  under  the 
influence  of  the  gospel,  and  thus,  while  being  the 


214  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

means  of  saving  the  souls  of  men,  he  might  also 
raise  them  to  the  level  of  respectable  citizens. 
The  place  which  he  selected  was  to  human  appear- 
ance the  most  unpromising.  It  was  not  only  the 
most  vicious  and  degraded  portion  of  Edinburgh, 
but  its  crimes  had  rendered  it  notorious  through- 
out *4ie  civilized  world.  No  more  vicious  and 
degraded  locality  could  be  found  in  any  of  our 
cities.  Yet  into  these  very  dens  Dr.  Chalmers 
and  his  associates,  both  men  and  women,  strong 
in  faith  and  love,  boldly  entered,  providing  educa- 
tion for  the  children,  work  for  the  idle,  and  carry- 
ing to  every  family  the  message  of  love  from  that 
Saviour  who  died  to  redeem  them.  The  Holy 
Spirit  wrought  with  them,  and  carried  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation  with  power  to  the  hearts  of  those 
wretched  men.  That  old  tannery  loft  became  the 
spiritual  birthplace  of  immortal  souls,  and  at  this 
moment  it  is  infinitely  more  illustrious  in  the  eyes 
of  Almighty  God  than  St.  Peters  at  Rome,  with 
all  the  splendors  of  its  gorgeous  flummery. 

The  result  has  been  already  alluded  to.  In 
less  than  four  years  two-thirds  of  the  children  of 
this  degraded  district  were  at  school,  and  a  church 
was  formed  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  commu- 
nicants. The  work  went  on  after  the  death  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,  until  before  long  there  was  not  a  child 
in  a  single  family  of  the  West  Port,  of  suitable  age, 
that  did  not  attend  school ;  and  the  moral  charac- 


CONCLUSION.  215 

ter  and  attendance  on  church,  of  the  district,  were 
on  a  par  with  those  of  the  most  favored  localities 
of  Edinburgh. 

After  this  let  no  one  consider  human  beings, 
how  degraded  soever,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sav- 
ing influence  of  the  gospel.  The  weapons  of  our 
warfare  are  mighty  through  God  to  pulling  down 
of  strongholds.  Let  us  then,  in  the  assurance  of 
faith  and  earnestness  of  love,  go  forth,  confidently 
expecting  that  when  in  simplicity  of  heart  we  labor 
for  him,  Christ  will  give  us  the  victory.  Nor  have 
such  results  been  confined  to  the  West  Port  and  to 
the  labors  of  Dr.  Chalmers.  The  effects  of  carry- 
ing the  gospel  in  love  among  the  degraded  inhab- 
itants of  St.  Giles,  London,  are  much  the  same.  A 
multitude  of  children  have  been  plucked  from  the 
very  jaws  of  destruction,  by  the  Howard  Mission, 
from  one  of  the  worst  localities  in  New  York.  We 
expect  missionaries  to  go  ten  thousand  miles  to 
carry  the  gospel  to  people  of  a  strange  language ; 
why  should  we  not  become  missionaries  to  the 
perishing  and  miserable  at  our  own  doors  ? 

Dr.  Chalmers  accomplished  an  amount  of  labor 
in  a  lifetime  which  seems  almost  incredible,  and 
he  worked  hard  until  the  day  of  his  death.  How 
did  he  do  this?  He  took  but  two  or  three  hours 
a  day  for  hard  work,  and  never  suffered  himself 
to  become  exhausted.  He  had  thus  leisure  fur 
all  his  other  multiplied  and  interesting  avocations. 


216  MEMOIR    OF   DR.     CHALMERS. 

Might  we  not  derive  an  important  lesson  from  his 
example  ?  Many  a  minister  never  puts  himself  to 
labor  until  the  last  days,  perhaps  the  very  last  day 
of  the  week.  He  writes  throughout  the  whole 
of  Saturday,  perhaps  through  Saturday  night,  and 
even  during  a  part  of  Sunday,  of  course  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  with  a  tired  and  worn-out 
brain.  He  preaches  in  this  condition  on  Sunday, 
and  is  listless  and  Mondayish  for  several  days  after- 
ward. The  effects  of  this  course  in  a  few  years 
become  visible.  As  it  is  said,  he  breaks  down, 
must  take  a  voyage  and  a  tour,  from  which  he  re- 
turns to  pursue  the  same  course  over  again.  Hence 
it  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted,  as  one  of  the 
providential  arrangements  of  God,  that  a  minister 
of  the  gospel  must  be  a  pallid,  broken-down  inva- 
lid, the  object  of  universal  pity  and  sympathy.  The 
example  of  Dr.  Chalmers  seems  to  teach  us  a  (lif- 
erent lesson.  Here  was  a  man  doing  more  work 
than  any  minister  of  his  time,  and,  excepting  in 
one  or  two  instances,  in  vigorous  health;  and  dying 
at  the  age  of  seventy,  a  robust  and  vigorous  man, 
in  a  green  and  fruitful  old  age.  Why  should  not 
we  adopt  as  our  maxim,  "  What  other  men  have 
dune,  we,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  can  do  also"  ? 
And,  lastly,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  life  of 
Dr.  Chalmers  was  mostly  objective,  and  that,  while 
he  labored  so  much  for  others,  his  own  heart  was 
suffered  to  go  to  waste.     But  it  was  not  so.     His 


CONCLUSION.  217 

deep  interest  in  his  own  personal  salvation  and  in 
the  salvation  of  his  relatives  is  everywhere  apparent 
in  his  journals  and  most  familiar  letters.  In  his 
various  devotional  writings,  we  are  struck  with  his 
importunate,  unceasing  pleadings  for  holiness,  and 
his  minute  inspection  of  every  thought,  desire,  and 
motive  of  his  heart.  While  lie  cherished  with  the 
most  un [altering  confidence  the  truth,  that  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believcth  on  him  should  not 
perish  but  have  everlasting  life  ;  while  he  believed 
that  we  arc  pardoned,  not  through  our  own  works, 
but  through  the  alone  righteousness  of  Christ,  by 
which  also  we  are  introduced  to  the  favor  of  God, 
he  was  just  as  earnestly  engaged  in  striving  after 
holiness  as  if  his  entire  salvation  depended  upon 
his  own  works.  In  the  height  of  his  popularity  he 
was  deeply  despondent,  on  one  occasion,  because 
he  saw  no  fruit  from  his  labors ;  but  he  was  at 
once  encouraged  by  learning  of  one  who  had  by 
his  instrumentality  been  brought  into  the  kingdom 
of  Christ.  He  rejoiced  more  over  one  sinner  that 
repented  than  in  all  the  applause  of  his  un- 
precedented popularity.  Let  us  all  be  imitators 
of  him,  as  he  imitated  Christ.  Let  us  labor  not  for 
the  applause  of  men,  not  to  advance  our  congre- 
gations in  social  position,  not  to  gather  the  rich 
and  the  literary  into  our  audience-rooms,  but  to 
save  immortal  souls  from  perdition ;  to  carry  the 


218  MEMOIR    OF   DR.    CHALMERS. 

gospel,  with  all  its  saving  influences,  to  every 
creature,  until  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  be- 
come the  kingdoms  of  our  God  and  his  Christ. 

"Servant  of  God,  well  done; 
Rest  from  thy  loved  employ : 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy. 

The  voice  at  midnight  came; 

He  started  up  to  hear ; 
A  mortal  arrow  pierced  his  frame; 

He  fell,  but  felt  no  fear. 

At  midnight  came  the  cry, 

'  To  meet  thy  God  prepare ! ' 
He  woke  and  caught  his  Captain's  eye, 

Then,  strong  in  faith  and  prayer, 

His  spirit  with  a  bound 

Left  its  encumbering  clay : 
His  tent  at  sunrise  on  the  ground 

A  darkened  ruin  lay. 

The  pains  of  death  are  passed; 

Labor  and  sorrow  cease ; 
And  lifers  long  warfare  closed  at  last, 

His  soul  is  found  at  peace. 

Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done ! 

Praise  be  thy  new  employ, 
And,  while  eternal  ages  run, 

Rest  in  thy  Master's  joy." 


THE     END, 


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